


Iona

by LokiismyfavouriteAvenger



Category: God of Mischief - Fandom, Loki - Fandom, Loki Odinson - Fandom, Loki laufeyson - Fandom, MCU, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Asgard, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Growing Up, Growing up in Asgard, IW au, Smut, enemies?, fix it (sort of), slowburn, smut in later chapters, the slowest of burns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2019-08-06 14:51:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16389764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokiismyfavouriteAvenger/pseuds/LokiismyfavouriteAvenger
Summary: Brought to the palace as a child, Iona is a gifted magician. She is educated with the princes, raised to become a protector of the realms, a diplomat and spy, a sorceress and so much more. However, she sometimes rather follows her own plans. And then there is, of course, the prince.....





	1. "I'll be nice if he's nice!"

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is! The first chapter of "Iona"! After working on this fic for almost a year, I finally have the courage to publish the beginning of it. I'm so excited! It's gonna be a looooong fic and I'm already sorry for what I've got to do to my characters...
> 
> Tags and trigger warnings will be updated constantly. There will be violence at some points. However, the beginning is tame and fun, enjoy!
> 
> Voilá, my main characters as children.  
> I picture Loki and Iona around the equivalent of 6-7 human years old (whatever that is in Asgardian years) and Thor around 8. 
> 
> Thank you @MissAdler for your constant support! You've been with Iona and Loki since the very beginning (I'll never forget that pre-screening of Ragnarok!)
> 
> Thank you @we_dreamerz for beta-ing!

"But I don't want to go there!"

Iona pulled at her mother's hand as they walked towards the palace. Inga sighed, stopped and crouched down in front of her daughter, who looked at her with huge eyes. 

"Iona, I've told you eight times now that nothing bad is going to happen. On the contrary, it's a great honor to be invited to the palace. And you've met the queen, remember? She's a nice lady, isn't she?" her mother said in reassuring tones. 

Iona nodded slowly. The tall blonde woman had been very nice to her. They had discussed magic she asked Iona show her some of her little tricks. And she'd given her cake. 

"I liked the cake. Will there be more cake?" Iona asked her mother. 

Inga laughed. 

"Yes, I think there will be cake. But only if you're a good girl and come with me now. We're going to be late and the people at the palace don't like that." 

Iona felt torn. There was something else that bothered her. 

"Iona dear, what is it? You can tell me anything," Inga asked calmly, though they really should get going now. 

The girl chewed on her lower lip nervously. 

"The king only has one eye. He's scary," Iona finally admitted. 

Inga had to suppress a laugh. 

"Iona, love, would he be less scary if he had two eyes like you and me?" 

"Yes. Like a normal person," Iona confirmed, nodding her head quickly. 

Inga smiled. 

"The king had two eyes, like everyone else. But he lost one in battle, I've told you the stories, remember?" 

Iona nodded again, slower this time.

"The Frost Giants took his eye," she stated with an important air. She was rather pleased with herself for remembering that.

"Exactly. Do you think the king liked to lose his eye?" Inga asked.

Iona looked skeptical, contemplating, then shook her head. 

"See, he was very sad about it. There is nothing to fear. He is a good king and he wants to meet you. We've talked about this. You don't have to be scared, he will be nice to you," Inga tried to calm her daughter. 

In truth, she was very excited. The queen's visit had been an extraordinary honour. But to be summoned to the palace was something else entirely. Inga knew that her daughter was exceptionally good with magic, especially elemental magic, controlling matter with ease. However, uneducated use of these powers was extremely dangerous. Various incidents in their home and village had proven that point. Inga also knew what this visit very likely meant. It was a preparation for an education at the palace, nothing less. If everything went well, Iona would move there soon and be educated by the best magicians of the realm, including Queen Frigga herself. The girl had calmed down a bit and stopped biting her lower lip.

"I'll be nice if he is nice," she stated eventually, making her mother chuckle. 

"Well then, let's go!"

They entered the palace together. Iona was awestruck by the size of the halls and all the gold. So much gold! Her mouth had dropped open and she had to be reminded several times to close it. They met her father in one of the corridors. 

"Where have you been, we're almost late!" he grumbled, though this was only due to his nervousness. He was usually neither strict nor especially punctual.

He'd never been one to easily bend the knee, neither had Inga. It was an attitude Iona had adopted at a very young age as well. As they walked towards the reception room, light footsteps and childish laughter echoed toward them from down the hall. Iona turned around, intrigued. Two boys ran past them. One boy was blond with a toy hammer in hand and a red cape that looked suspiciously like a table cloth. The other had dark hair with a green table cloth cape and a long wooden stick. They paid the family no mind as they ran past, yelling, "For Asgard!" before they turned a corner and disappeared. 

"Those two are the princes. Thor and Loki. One of them is going to rule the realm some day in the future," Iona’s father explained.

Iona was impressed. She'd always imagined the princes would be stuck-up and boring, never laughing or playing. 

A tug on her hand pulled her out of her thoughts. They were standing in front of a big, closed door. Inga knelt and addressed her daughter face to face. 

"Here we are. Remember, dear, you must bend the knee before your King. You, too," she said, half-jokingly, to her husband who rolled his eyes with a grin.  
Then the door was opened, and the family entered the room.

There was lots of gold and decoration everywhere. Though it was not the big reception hall, it was an impressive room, even more so for people from the country who did not come to the capital on a regular basis. King Odin stood close to the row of windows, next to him was Queen Frigga. As it was an informal meeting, he was not wearing his full armour but a lighter one. He came towards them, the queen following. Iona's parents knelt, and she followed suit. 

"Ah, Iona Ingasdotter! Welcome to the palace. You may all rise," Odin stated before exchanging niceties with her father. 

The King stood only about six feet away from them and Iona couldn't help but study his face curiously. And his eye. And his eye patch. How did that thing not fall down? Her mother nudged her, giving her a reproachful look. With a start, Iona realized that the King was looking directly at her now, smiling. 

"The Queen has told me about your extraordinary abilities with magic. Would you like to show me one of your little tricks?" he addressed Iona. 

She shot a quick look at the Queen, who smiled at her, and at her mother, who nodded encouragingly. Iona decided on one of her favourite tricks and waved her hands. At once, they were surrounded by beautiful butterflies made of fire. The red, yellow and orange glowing creatures fluttered around them. Iona smiled. She loved them. In fact, a fiery butterfly had been the very first sign of her magical ability. She had conjured it as an infant, though of course she had been far too young to remember the incident. The butterfly had almost set her crib on fire but from that moment it had been clear that she was exceptionally good at magic, especially at controlling the elements. 

With a flick of her wrist, the fire butterflies changed colour and element. Some became transparent, butterfly shaped pools of water fluttering through the air. Occasionally drops of water fell to the floor. Some became white or blue or green like ice from the glaciers that had been pressed into a shape over thousands of years. They reflected the light of the candles in the room. Iona flicked her hand again and some butterflies turned back to fire, while others remained in water or ice form. In a whirlwind of colours, they collided one by one, dissolving into vaporous butterflies that held their form for a moment longer before evaporating into thin air.

Iona had been so deep in her elemental butterfly world that she did not notice the impressed look the royal couple had shared. Neither had she heard the door open a moment before she conjured the first wave of elemental creatures. She just stood there, smiling proudly up at the royal couple. 

"That was soooo beautiful!" a boyish voice said from the direction of the door. 

The two Princes stood there, clearly in awe. The blond one had just made the remark. The dark one at once changed his facial expression from awe to indifference when he realised that everyone was looking in their direction. 

"It was alright, I guess," he said in a bored tone. 

The Queen smiled and shook her head. 

"Come on inside, children. I would like to introduce you to Iona Ingasdotter, the girl who was responsible for the beautiful butterflies," the Queen said. 

They both came forward, the blond one grinned broadly; the dark one slowly followed him with a pompous expression. The blond boy stopped in front of Iona. "Good day, my lady! I am prince Thor Odinson but you can call me Thor, I think," he said, still grinning. 

The other boy did not smile. 

"It's common knowledge that you kneel before your princes," he pointed out. 

The Queen shot a scolding glance his way. Iona did not like this one. Not at all. She stared straight into his eyes until she felt a nudge from her mother. Looking in her direction, she saw her parents kneel, which was very strange indeed, even more so when considering that the two boys were around her own age. Iona turned back to look directly into the dark-haired prince’s eyes. Very slowly, she knelt, defiantly refusing to avert her gaze as was common courtesy. 

"Oh, you don't have to do that. Get up and show us some more!" Thor said impatiently, waving his hands, oblivious to any tension.

With a questioning glance at her mother, who nodded, Iona got up. "You may leave and play, children, just do not wander off too far," Odin said. 

Thor grinned. 

"Can you set my hammer on fire?" he asked eagerly. 

"And please do not burn down the palace," Odin shouted amused as they were already on their way out of the door.

As soon as the door had closed behind the children, the queen began to speak rather enthusiastically.

"This was extraordinary! Her mastery of the elements seems flawless already and she has not yet received any kind of magical education! Fire is the most difficult element to control, most elemental magicians do not dare to try it until they reach a certain age, taking very small steps towards conjuring ordinary flames and inanimate objects and she conjured a massive crowd of butterflies, controlling them without any visible effort and just from thin air, no flame needed to start it! And then she turned them to water and ice, which is again one of the most difficult tasks in elemental magic. Fire and water do not go together very well, it normally takes decades of practice to convert one into the other and she did it back and forth at her young age without any professional training. I am impressed to the highest degree." 

Odin smiled. The queen was usually calmer and more reserved. The little girl had made quite an impression.

"My queen is very versed in the arts of magic. I can only agree with her. We would like to welcome Iona at the palace to be educated here. She can become a powerful magician and an important protector of the realm. Of course, you will have to speak to her first, but we would like to have her here as soon as possible to begin her education,” the Allfather stated.


	2. Kill it with Fire!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After moving to the palace, Iona tries to settle in. Some inhabitants of the place aren't too happy about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your comments and kudos, they mean the world to me!! It makes me so happy to know people enjoy this! 
> 
> Thanks to my wonderful, supportive beta @we_dreamerz. 
> 
> As always, feedback is very welcome :-)

A few weeks after meeting the King and Queen, Iona moved to the palace. She was nervous and scared and excited, everything at once. Her new room was small but comfortable with her own bathroom and lots of books on the shelves. She could not wait to read them all. The chamber was set in a short corridor where children from gentry from all over the realm were accommodated. There were a few spare rooms for the offspring of nobles from other realms as well, though those were uninhabited at the moment. 

Iona’s parents helped her to settle in. They put her clothes in her new closet and set her favourite plushie next to her pillow. Iona hadn’t paid too much attention to them, being too occupied with all the new impressions that overwhelmed her. But when they made to leave, there were, of course, tears. Iona promised to write them letters, she would just have to hand them over to a servant and all her worries and thoughts would reach her parents in no time.

Dagmar, her nursemaid, who took care of the princes and the children from several nobles who lived at the palace stood at her side as she waved goodbye to her parents when they finally walked down the corridor after several earlier attempts to leave, the little girl had tears streaming down her face. 

“Now, now, little one, everything is going to be fine. Dry your tears and I will show you one of the palace gardens where you can go in your spare time, alright?” she tried to sooth the weeping child. 

Reluctantly, Iona nodded. Her hand firmly in Dagmar’s, she was led down several flights of stairs after drying her face. The child was already admiring the palace again and slowly forgetting about her grief. 

The garden was beautiful, and the little girl was especially fascinated by the fountain in the middle where water was flowed through several bowls down into a bigger basin. With a grin, Iona froze the water, delighted by the icy structures she created. She let it flow again, just to freeze it seconds later, inspecting the icicles that looked different than last time. Then, she let some of the water rise as steam, just to let it rain back down and freeze the drops mid-air, holding them there. She continued with her play, unaware of the crowd of nobles and servants alike that the open display of her powers had drawn. 

When she turned around with a bright smile, looking for Dagmar, she saw many strange faces looking at her, most in awe, some in concern, a few in rejection. A bit scared of the crowd, she was relieved when Dagmar took her hand in hers and pulled her gently away from the fountain and the crowd.

“We should return to your room and get you ready for bed, dear. The day tomorrow will be filled with lots of new things. You should get a good night’s rest before that,” Dagmar said.

Iona nodded. An hour later, she snuggled under her blankets, cuddling her plushie while Dagmar read a story to her. Afterward, the maid even sat next to her bed, reading a book to herself in silence while Iona tried to fall asleep. It took some time, but she managed eventually. With a smile, Dagmar got up and left the room, closing the door behind her without a sound.

However, only hours later, the girl woke up with a start. Disoriented, she had no idea where she was at first. She clutched her toy to her chest in fear until she remembered where she was and relaxed slightly in relief. But the unfamiliar sounds and surroundings still scared her.

Iona bit her lower lip, and conjured several fireballs. She let them float towards the corners of the room, spreading a warm light. She wasn’t supposed to play with fire when no grown up was around, she knew that; but, she didn’t like the dark in this place she didn’t know well. 

She suddenly missed her parents and their house, their workshop and the ever-present smell of leather. Feeling lost and alone, she would have given everything to be able to slip under the covers in her parents’ bed, her father to her left, her mother to her right, feeling safe and secure. Instead, she was here, far, far away from home in this huge palace surrounded by strangers. New tears flowed down her cheeks freely as the lonely child cried herself back to sleep.

 

* * *

In the morning, Dagmar drew the curtains to wake the newest inhabitant of the royal palace of Asgard. 

Iona sat up in bed yawning wide, which immediately got her a scolding for bad behavior. She rolled her eyes at that and got her another scolding. What a way to start the day.

This morning, her education at the palace started. The girl was occupied with lessons of all sorts. There were to be more lessons dedicated to the history of Asgard and the nine realms than she'd have expected; nevertheless, she soon found she enjoyed them. She’d always been curious to learn about strange places and distant worlds. She hoped to see all them all for herself one day and was thrilled to hear that Heimdall, the Gatekeeper, could see them all. She was determined to go and talk to him about this at some point, though she found the lone figure she had already spotted at the far end of the rainbow bridge rather intimidating. 

Iona had most lessons together with Prince Loki, who was around her own age, and other children from nobility who lived at the palace or the capital, as well as children of militaries and higher-ranking servants. She was a very perceptive child, so it wasn’t long before she noticed that they kept their distance. It did not take long for her to find out why, though she would never truly understand their reasons. 

Most of the children thought her beneath them, a girl from the country, the daughter of a shoemaker. Even though some of the military people knew her parents by name because the shoes her father made were mostly boots for soldiers, the resilient material interwoven with protecting magic provided by her mother. She knew her parents had, in fact, made all the shoes for the royal family, from king Odin’s combat boots to queen Frigga’s ball slippers.

Iona didn’t see the problem. Everybody needed shoes, so why should they look down upon those who filled that need? She had often watched her parents work and knew how much time and precision it took to produce a good pair of shoes or boots, especially when magic was involved.

Those who didn’t think themselves above her had heard stories about her magical abilities and were simply scared of her. The tale of the incident with the neighbour’s chicken had somehow found its way to the capital and people looked at her as if she was about to freeze them in place or set them ablaze. However, Iona did not mind too much, as she always had her nose in books anyway. She preferred to be left alone to read. Although sometimes a friend would have been nice, and she looked longingly after the other children playing with a strong sense of jealousy and a considerable amount of sadness. 

She usually tried to sit as far away from Prince Loki as possible during lessons and would take a book and get settled in a corner during breaks. Sometimes Prince Thor would come to her and ask her to show him some of her magic. She soon discovered that he loved it when she let little elemental men fight against each other. This usually ended in a small explosion of water or fire – though she really shouldn’t get caught with those fire manikins. Iona didn’t miss the hateful glances the younger prince shot her whenever he spotted Thor with her. During her first months at the palace, Thor was the only one she might consider a friend.

There were playful physical exercises as well, preparing the children for fighting lessons in the future, though not all of them would be taking those. Iona wasn’t too keen on those, but she also wasn’t too bad at them either.

 

* * *

Sadly, the lessons she disliked were those she'd been looking forward to the most – magical studies. When she studied magic, it was only Prince Loki and her, and their dislike for each other was blatantly mutual.

Iona had a hard time with illusions and sometimes her powers controlling matter were too raw and wild to be properly controlled - especially when she was upset or very emotional, which she found was often the case was in the presence of the obnoxious prince. 

When Iona joined the class, Loki was struggling with conjuration. He had burned himself often since Iona set foot into the palace as he tried to master fire the way he had seen her do it. Without, it seemed, any effort at all. He thought it couldn’t be too difficult if she could do it. Magic was his specialty; how could this wench from the country, this peasant, dare to challenge him? Worse, why were there areas in which she was clearly much more accomplished than he?

Loki couldn’t stand it when Iona did something right and got praised by his mother. Frigga was his mother; why did she even bother with the stupid girl? He didn’t want to share Frigga’s attention with anyone. The magic lessons had been so nice and open, a time he’d been looking forward to, time when he could explore and satisfy his curiosity, when nobody judged him for not running as fast as Thor or being lost in thought. It was a time when he didn’t feel like he wasn’t enough. And now that girl was here and took that away from him.

They both triumphed when the other failed, often being scolded for their behavior towards each other. Loki always wanted to be best, to please his mother and when he failed, he'd sometimes snap and outright insult Iona, often waiting until his mother was out of earshot. 

One afternoon about four months after Iona’s arrival at the palace, just after yet another lesson in magic in which he was utterly frustrated, Loki lost his temper. He had been unable to light a stupid candle with magic – though that hadn’t been the exercise assigned to him, he had been supposed to teleport a book from his nightstand, an easy task. Iona had noticed what he was trying to do so desperately and lit every single candle in the room, as well as the emergency torch on the wall with an infuriating cocky smile on her face. Loki was boiling over with rage.

"You are not worthy to be here or even set foot in this palace! You are not a princess and your parents are not even gentry! I will have you thrown out sooner or later, trust me!" he snarled at her. 

"Pfff, I am here because the king and the queen wanted me to be here! They chose me! With you, they are stuck, if they want you or not," Iona retorted angrily. 

"How dare you talk to me like that? I am your prince! You should bow to me, fear me, and accept that I am better than you!" Loki snapped, face red with indignation, and stormed away.

 

* * *

That night, Iona awoke to a tapping sound. Had someone knocked on her door? 

"Come in," she said, sitting up in bed. 

Nobody entered. She lit the candle next to her bed and screamed as spiders of all sizes and colors ran through her bedroom. She hated spiders. Now they were starting to crawl into her bed. 

"Go away, stop, no, nooo...," Iona screamed in panic. 

To get rid of the creatures, she set her bedcover, which was swarming with them now, on fire. However, the spiders did not disappear. Trembling with fear, Iona sat in her bed surrounded by flames. She did not get hurt by the flames because she knew how to divert the heat from her body but slowly, her furniture caught fire too – as did her little plushie. 

Suddenly, the spiders were gone. Instead, a pale-faced Loki crawled out from behind a now burning armchair, coughing. There was smoke everywhere. At that moment, the door to the room swung open, revealing two alarmed guards. One of them turned away while the other tried to fight his way through the billowing smoke. Iona extinguished the fire by releasing a wave of water through the small space. 

Her room was in ruins. Loki sat on the floor, coughing badly, water dripping from his hair. Iona, dry and unharmed, jumped out of her bed and went for him, raging. 

"You did this! You made me see spiders everywhere!" she yelled while hitting at him with her fists.

The guard reached her just as she gave Loki a bloody nose. 

"You .... are not allowed ... to touch me! ... You will pay for this...!" Loki yelled back, interrupted by coughing fits. 

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF ALL THIS!?" Odin's voice boomed through the room, making both children as well as the guard flinch. 

The Allfather stood in the doorway, still clad in armor, furious. 

"Father! She tried to kill me," Loki accused Iona, getting up from the floor and touching his nose, unintentionally smearing blood all over his face in the process. 

"That is not true, he..."

"ENOUGH! You will come with me, both of you!" Odin bellowed. 

The two followed, reeking of smoke, Loki with a still bleeding nose, his clothes dripping wet. On the way, he conjured illusions of bugs that flew directly towards her face. Iona dodged, cursing. In response, she set his hair on fire, just the tips, just a bit, which resulted in her being scolded by Odin in front of half the palace. The turmoil in her chamber had not passed unnoticed and curious inhabitants of the place lined the corridors to catch a glimpse of what had happened. 

Both children were punished and given a warning that should something like this happen again, they would face worse punishment than not getting any deserts for a month and being confined to their respective chambers for two months as soon as their lessons were over. No playing outside, no sitting in the sun with a book – an activity they both enjoyed. The worst, however, was when Frigga told them how disappointed she was, which resulted in both feeling very bad. Iona had become deeply attached to the gentle queen, sucking in every word of praise the goddess with the twinkling eyes had for her. 

"I thought the two of you could become friends! It's so much better to learn together than to compete constantly! You could help each other with the different kinds of magic, as your talents lie in different areas. I had hoped you could improve each other by broadening your minds! Both of you have such potential for true greatness. I am highly disappointed in you," the queen proclaimed earnestly, her facial expression showing her deep disappointment.

"I am sorry," Iona mumbled, looking down. She meant it, at least as far as disappointing the queen was concerned. She wasn’t truly sorry about setting Loki on fire, though. Who could blame her after what he had done?

Loki glowered at her. Great, now she had the moral high ground because she'd apologized first. To his mother! He didn't want to look bad in the queen’s eyes. Thor and Odin had a special bond, but he was Frigga's favorite, always had been. And now this girl was here, stealing his mother's affection. They both looked at him expectantly. 

"I... am sorry, too," he said halfheartedly, not meaning it. 

Iona was taken to another chamber in the same corridor as her former room, her remaining useable things brought to her. Her plushie was gone, though, and she swore to herself Loki would pay for that. 

 

* * *

When it was bedtime on the following evening, Frigga used the time she had alone with Loki to inquire into his aversion to Iona. The queen sat at the side of his bed, softly stroking the boy’s head. He visibly enjoyed her caresses, leaning into her touch with a small smile tugging the corners of his lips upwards. 

"Why do you not like Iona, Loki? What has she done to deserve your distaste?" she asked calmly.

Loki sighed, brows drawn, his big, blue eyes on his mother with an almost pleading expression in them. 

"She... she came here, and Thor likes her, and you like her, and everyone is so impressed with her. But she is so bad at illusions it hurts!" the young prince tried to get his mother to understand, though they both knew this was about much more. 

The queen had suspected as much, but now she saw herself confirmed.

"But Loki… she can do other things really well. Thor likes everybody, you know that, but you are his brother! The two of you have a special bond that cannot be destroyed. I like her, she is a bright and intelligent girl.”

His expression darkened at the praise of his enemy.

“Nevertheless, you will always be my son, my boy, my dear little prince, no matter what happens. I am so proud of you, you have so many good traits in you and can achieve greatness, I am sure of it,” she whispered, kissing him on the forehead. The dark-haired prince practically glowed with pride at her words of praise. 

“What Iona can do, in the field of elemental magic, is extraordinary. You know how hard it is, you've tried it yourself. Both of you have a gift in different kinds of magic. But you can learn from each other. It is important for the realm to have well-trained magicians, as well as well-trained fighters," the queen continued calmly. 

As always, her voice had a soothing effect on her boy. 

"But… she's not even gentry!" Loki voiced his last concern, knowing it was futile. 

Frigga gave him a scolding look. 

"Ancestry and descent are not everything, Loki. Please always remember that! There have been celebrated heroes and fighters who came from farming families and there have been cowards and traitors from the noblest of origins. Not everyone is lucky enough to be born into a royal family like you have. You should define yourself by your actions, not by your birthright,” she stated firmly. The boy looked up at her with big eyes, clearly trying to process her words.

“Please try to behave better towards her. I am sure she will do the same. Always remember, you have it easier than her, this is your home, you grew up here, you know everyone. You grew up with the rules and are used to life at the palace. She comes from another place; things are new and strange to her. She must get used to her new surroundings and the way things are here. Imagine how you would feel without me and father and Thor. Please try to be nicer to her. Can you do that for me?" she asked softly.

Loki felt bad. His mother was right, of course. Iona's abilities were special, he knew that because he was hopeless with matter. Thor liked to play with her. And she could be quite funny when she joked around with him, he had seen it when he spied on them. He would be terrified to be somewhere without his family, he could only imagine how that must be. He came to a decision.

"Alright, I'll try to be nicer. But she cannot set me on fire again!" Loki insisted, looking at his mother insecurely as though he wasn’t sure if that was too much to ask. Being set on fire had been a very frightening experience, though.

Frigga smiled warmly at her boy. She had a feeling this could be the beginning of something good.

"I am sure she will not do that again. And now off to sleep, my child," she said, hugging and kissing him before leaving, looking back at his bed where only a black shock of hair could be seen over the blanket.


	3. A Quill and a Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A broken quill changes something between Iona and Loki.

The next lessons were awkward between Loki and Iona. Neither of them knew how to behave towards the other. 

Iona was still very angry about the destruction of her room, especially about the destruction of her beloved stuffie . She still wanted revenge for that. At the same time, she didn’t want to disappoint the queen again, who had it made very clear what she thought about Loki and her being enemies.

Loki had thought about his mother’s word for a long time. He realized now how alone Iona must be. He’d seen others react to her presence and somehow that had felt all too familiar. Some children didn’t dare to talk to him because he was one of the princes of Asgard. They were clearly intimidated, and he had a feeling this had to do with him often emphasizing his title. For some reason, this made him feel a tiny bit ashamed of himself. It was actually quite funny that most of the same children who would not play with him because of his title were the ones who would mock Iona for her comparatively low birth.

The children silently agreed to ignore each other. However, that did not work out since they saw each other for several hours each day. It was especially not working during their magic lessons with the queen, because there were literally no other pupils present.

Four days after the incident with Iona’s room, another magic lesson was about to start. The queen wasn’t there yet. Iona and Loki sat at the same table as far away from each other as possible. Currently, she was struggling with summoning a quill, an exercise she had particularly hated even before her lessons. For some reason, it just wouldn’t work. She squinted her eyes in concentration but the only thing that appeared was a very light headache, not a writing quill. However, this time, Loki intervened. 

"You are concentrating on the wrong things. Don't worry about color or texture, just remember what a common quill looks like," he told her. 

Iona looked at him, surprised and skeptical. Usually, he was delighted when she failed this exercise. Did he mock her?

"But you've got yourself such a nice green one! How did you do it?" she asked, intrigued, for the first time giving in to her immense curiosity about his skills. 

"Well, uhm... I... you have to manage the basics before you can change the color. Just... do what I said, come on, try it!" 

Iona gave him a doubtful look but took his advice. She concentrated on an unspectacular quill - and it worked. Partly. 

"I am not sure if I can write with this...," she said, holding up the crooked, deformed quill she just conjured. 

When she saw Loki's doubtful look, she laughed. 

"I mean, I can try. Maybe I can straighten it a bit," she mumbled, concentrated - and the quill broke in two parts.

Loki couldn’t suppress a giggle. Iona looked at him scornfully before breaking out in laughter herself. It was quite funny…

"It was at least better than all your previous tries," Loki said grinning. 

Thoughtfully, Iona answered "I think you're right. This calls for a celebration!" and with a flick from her wrist, small but colorful fireworks erupted around them.

"What is happening in here?" Frigga entered the room, an anxious expression on her face. 

She'd heard small explosions and feared the worst. However, she relaxed when she saw them both laughing, surrounded by tiny green and yellow fireworks that subsided as soon as Iona spotted her. 

"I've summoned a quill," Iona proclaimed proudly, holding up a broken something. 

"Then, I broke it... I shouldn't have done that," she stated while Loki got the giggles next to her. So much so that he was already holding his sides. 

"You managed to summon it yourself?" Frigga asked, ignoring her son’s uncontrollable laughing. She knew how much Iona struggled with summons. 

"Well, yes, obviously! I mean, it doesn't look like anything Loki would summon. He lacks the imagination to summon anything this exquisite," Iona answered while closely inspecting the broken pieces of her quill. 

Now it was Frigga's turn to laugh while Loki announced he would summon the most exquisite quills Asgard had ever seen for future lessons. The following days, Loki would keep his promise and summon the most unusual quills he could think of. He had a lengthy debate with Frigga when he insisted to use a magnificent peacock feather to write with for about an hour until he accepted the bitter truth about its impracticality. 

Loki and Iona, however, converged, becoming almost inseparable in no time. 

It started off when Loki asked her about controlling fire after another magic lesson. He tried to show her what he was capable off in this field of magic and ended with burned fingertips. Iona conjured small cubicles of ice and wrapped them in a cloth to cool his fingers while the children made their way to the infirmary. 

On their way, she tried to explain how she managed to control matter. It wasn’t easy to explain, and Loki understood next to nothing, because it seemed to be more of a feeling than something one could learn. Nevertheless, after their inevitable scolding from Eir, the head healer and goddess of healing, they kept talking and Iona managed to persuade Loki to stop trying to control fire for now because he would only hurt himself. Instead, they agreed that he would be trying other elements and he would focus on the one that was easiest for him for now. Iona promised to practice with him. In return, he would help her with summons and other areas in which she was struggling.

They had been so deep in conversation that they hadn’t realized that their steps had led them towards the royal quarters. Only when an Einherjar stepped forward and stopped them on their way did they look up. Loki frowned.

“Why are you blocking my way?” he asked in wonder.

“Nobody is allowed to set foot into the royal wing without permission, my Prince,” the guard answered. 

It took Loki a moment to understand that Iona was the problem. 

“I give my permission for Iona to enter the royal wing,” he said, his tone of voice suddenly pompous and commanding.

“I beg your pardon, my Prince, but only the king or the queen can grant this permission,” the soldier explained. 

Loki already looked red in the face and seemed about to explode. It was then that he felt a tug at his sleeve.

“Come, Loki, we can talk about it somewhere else. We do not have to go to your room,” Iona whispered.

“But I wanted to show you the book with the elemental creatures in it! The pictures are so nice and colorful, you have to see it!” Loki exclaimed, still visibly annoyed. 

“We can look at that another time?” Iona tried. She didn’t want him to throw a tantrum on her behalf. 

Loki made an angry face, but finally agreed. He would see to it that Iona got a permanent permission to come with him later!

They made their way to one of the palace gardens where they soon were joined by Thor. The three of them played outside and later took dinner together and when it was time to get ready for bed, the princes insisted on accompanying Iona to her room, causing a bit of a commotion when they appeared in her corridor. Dagmar was with them, but even the experienced nurse maid was not quick enough to stop the three children from climbing on Iona’s bed and jumping up and down. Iona amplified the height of their jumps by adding a strong wind that gave them uplift and all three of them soon were screaming and panting with laughter. 

When Dagmar finally managed to calm the children down, Loki looked around the room. As always, he was very perceptive, and he realized something.

“You don’t own any toys, Iona! Why is that? Are your parents too poor?” he asked bluntly, not aware that his question might be considered rather delicate. 

Dagmar was about to speak, when Iona answered.

“I didn’t bring much with me, but I had a stuffie. It was a rabbit, but it… it burned when I set my room on fire. My parents didn’t send me anything else yet,” she said with an air of sadness.

Loki looked at her with wide eyes. Before anyone could say anything, he jumped up again.

“I will be right back,” was all he said before he took to running out of the room.

Thor called after him, but his brother was already out of earshot – or simply not listening.

Dagmar managed to calm the remaining two children down enough to be able to read a story to them, Iona and Thor lying on their bellies on her bed, Dagmar sitting on a chair next to them, having gotten them to promise that Thor would leave for his own room after the end of the story. However, they were interrupted soon by Loki’s return.

The second prince of Asgard was quite a sight when he stumbled into Iona’s room, his arms full of stuffies. He carried them over to the bed and conveniently dropped them on top of his older brother. 

“I have so many of them that I never play with all of them, you can have those,” he stated with an important air. 

Iona merely stared at him.

“Loki, thank you so much, but I don’t think I can accept this, can I?” she asked facing Dagmar. 

Dagmar was faced by three pairs of large questioning and pleading children's eyes. 

"I think it would be more appropriate if you let Iona chose one and keep the rest, My Prince," the maid said cautiously. 

Loki looked from the nurse maid to Iona and back. 

"But mother said Iona doesn't know anyone here and she doesn't even have a stuffie anymore!" he exclaimed. 

"It is very generous of you to offer her your toys, My Prince. Let Iona chose one and we will talk to your mother to see if she allows for you to give Iona another, alright?" Dagmar tried again. 

Loki wasn't convinced. The boy sat on the bed with a deep frown, contemplating why he wasn't allowed to give away his toys as he pleased. 

Iona, however, sensed that something was wrong, and the maid didn't want to be too direct. 

"It's alright, Loki. I thank you so much. I would like to have the wolf, if you don't mind?" she asked just as Loki was about to say something to Dagmar. 

He looked at Iona, his mouth still open. With a sigh, he relented and did not insist that she kept all the toys. He didn’t even remember the little grey wolf she held.

"Very well, then. Of course, keep the wolf." 

Loki then climbed from the bed, struggled to grab the other stuffies and made a beeline for the door. 

"Dagmar, are you coming? You wanted to speak to mother about this," he said impatiently while fumbling for the door handle. 

His tower of stuffed animals collapsed just as he managed to open the door. With a frustrated groan, he began picking up the toys again. Thor came to his help and soon, the brothers were arguing about a stuffed toy horse that Thor insisted belonged to him. Dagmar managed to steer the quarreling brothers out of the door, though not before promising Iona to return soon to finish the story. 

Loki did not give the nurse maid a choice when he opened the door to his room, shoved the toys inside and urged Thor on to leave the stuffies he was carrying as well. Thor did what Loki wanted, though he wandered off with the horse. Loki narrowed his eyes, determined to get the it back in his possession soon. However, he was a prince on a mission. He grabbed Dagmar's hand and pulled her with him to his mother's rooms. 

Dagmar tried to tell him that it was not this urgent, that they should wait until the queen had time for them, but it was no use. A few moments later, she was facing the Allmother. 

"Now go on, ask your question," Loki urged her on with an important air. 

"Please forgive the intrusion, My Queen. My Prince, you are very capable to ask your mother yourself," Dagmar tried. 

Loki just looked at her as if she had lost her mind. 

"But... I didn't want to ask anything. You insisted, so you ask," he explained, clearly exhausted by her inability to understand such basic correlations. 

Frigga looked at them both, a mixture of amusement and curiosity on her features. Finally, Dagmar gave in and told the queen about Loki's generosity this afternoon. A broad smile appeared on the Frigga's face and she motioned for her son to come to her. He obliged and was rewarded with a gentle hug from his mother as she crouched down to be able to talk to him on eyelevel. 

"Loki, what you did today was very generous and good of you. However, you cannot give away your belongings without speaking to father or me first. Do you understand?" she asked softly while stroking his hair. 

"But... Iona didn't have anything. Does she have to give the wolf back?" he asked with big eyes. 

Frigga laughed. 

"No, she does not have to give the wolf back. But it is important for you to understand that you must ask us first if you want to give away some of your things. Do you think you can do that?" she asked. 

The dark-haired prince nodded a bit reluctantly, though he still did not understand why this was such a big issue. 

"Very well then. I think tomorrow, the two of us can look through your things and chose one other toy that you can give Iona as a present. How does that sound?" she asked, and Loki's face lit up.

“And can Iona have permission to visit me in my room? I want to show her my books,” the boy asked as an afterthought.

Frigga laughed and promised to give the necessary directions to the Einherjar. Loki smiled contently.

The queen thanked Dagmar for bringing her insisting child to her. The Allmother was amused by Loki’s behavior, but also astonished and proud. Astonished because Loki did not often show generous behavior, no matter how hard she tried to teach him and if he did, it was mostly towards his brother or herself. Proud because maybe the friendship between Iona and Loki would turn out to be what the boy longed for, what he needed. He was often alone and though he pretended not to care, the queen knew better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the long wait! I got distracted by a prompt I'm working on that was supposed to be between 3k and 5k and is now at 17k.... you know how these things happen. 
> 
> Anyways! I hope you enjoyed my little glimpse into Asgardian palace life for children.
> 
> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! I'm always happy about feedback.
> 
> And thank you so much for reading!


	4. Valkyrie of Honor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iona learns how to ride a horse. The two princes accompany her - and show off their riding skills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! A short chapter that took me ages to write, for some reason.   
> I hope to be able to update more often now. I mean, I have finished my Loki-prompt, so my focus is on Iona now! 
> 
> As always, let me know what you think!
> 
> And many thanks to @we_dreamerz for beta-ing!

Soon, Loki and Iona started to trick people together, sometimes with Thor, while other times he was their favorite victim. They also took to their studies with a new fervor, constantly pushing each other to their limits and helping to overcome obstacles. 

A very special occasion was when Thor and Loki found out that Iona had never ridden a horse . Well, technically, she had sat on a horse, but it had been one of the broad, sturdy farm horses at home. They almost dragged her down to the stables, both excited to be able to show something new to their friend. The Queen had given them their blessing, on condition of only taking the ponies and giving the nicest, most gentle one to Iona. The equerry and everyone else involved with the animals had been informed of the princes’ intent as well. 

Thor insisted on showing her the stables before they set out on their ponies. Iona was nervous but didn’t want to admit it. Boats she was familiar with, having grown up at a lake. Horses not so much. 

The princes showed her around, making sure she got a good look at their father’s fierce stallion that was currently standing in his box. All three were surprised when the eight-legged creature that usually kept snorting and stamping remained calm in their presence. 

“Why does he have eight legs?” Iona asked, staring at the creature that had at first looked at them, then continued to feed on some fresh hay a stable boy had just brought in.   
“He was born that way. He’s very fast,” Loki explained, and Thor nodded. 

The three of them watched the stallion a bit longer. Iona tried to imagine having to coordinate four additional limbs. She shook her head. She’d likely stumble over her own feet. And how odd her clothes would look…

They carried on to the beautiful animals that were the Queen’s and some of the other hot-blooded war horses. It turned out that the girl had a way with the animals. Loki was impressed when she approached one of the fiercest young stallions in the stable and patted its nose without so much as a trace of fear. The horse had bitten both him and Thor, but with Iona, it behaved as tame as one could wish. The younger prince felt a tinge of jealousy. 

In the courtyard, they approached three smaller ponies. The boys both grinned at Iona. 

“Come on, this will be such fun!” Loki said delighted. 

Of course, they didn’t need to saddle their own ponies, they had been ready when the children arrived. Loki had a small, dark brown one, Thor light brown and Iona’s was somewhere in between. Upon approaching, Loki made a show of conjuring three apples, one for each of them to give to their animals. Thor was – as always – intrigued by the display of magic and quickly grabbed for one of the apples. Loki held one of the others to Iona. She took it and slowly approached her mount. 

It was one thing to pat one a bit while it was still in its box, but this was something completely different. She was supposed to sit on that later! Under no circumstances would she have admitted how scared she was. Though, her hands were shaking a bit. For someone who had grown up next to a lake and only barely had to do anything with horses, the close proximity to the big animals could be intimidating, even if it was just a pony. At that moment, she wished herself back to her lake, preferably in a boat. That was something she could handle. Another creature she was supposed to steer, and command was something else entirely, though.

“Go slowly, it won’t do anything bad,” Loki urged her. 

She took small steps forward, the apple in her outstretched hand. Her pony sniffed, extended its muzzle and gently took the apple from her to eat it with a crunching sound. Iona smiled, as did the two princes. Each of them had given their apple to their pony by now and the sounds of eager munching filled the stables.

At first, she had to learn how to sit properly. That was when the big debate broke lose. The riding instructor had brought a sidesaddle for the girl, but both princes seemed bewildered by this. 

Iona eyed the strange-looking saddle. When she had been put on the back of that farm horse, there had been no saddle. She didn’t know what to do. She was lifted onto the back of the animal and held on to the pommel for dear life. This did not feel right. At all! 

As she was with the princes, the most accomplished riding instructor of the realm was there as well, guiding and helping her, though Loki kept interrupting him. He seemed convinced he knew better than the patient man.

“But how is she supposed to gallop like that?” Loki asked. 

“My Prince, she isn’t supposed to gallop at all. Ladies have no need to gallop,” the instructor tried to explain.

Iona snorted before she could check her reaction.

“I’m not a lady,” she said simply.

The riding instructor insisted that she was, but Iona insisted that she wasn’t.

“Even if she is a lady, then she should be allowed to ride a horse the way she wants,” Loki interjected. 

Thor nodded. They finally agreed that Iona should learn both ways of riding, starting off with what the princes called a ‘normal’ saddle. While Iona waited for her pony to be re-saddled, she watched the princes prancing around the courtyard on their ponies. They both sat very upright, though Thor had a tendency to slump down a bit. Loki on the other hand looked like he had spent more time in a saddle than walking. Iona sighed. She was already convinced she would never look this elegant on a horse.

When the instructor came back with her pony, she managed to get up on its back without much difficulty. The pony started a very slow walk, though it felt far too fast for Iona’s liking.

The boys soon became bored with the slow pace the girl had to take and raced their ponies around the yard and the adjacent enclosure. Iona looked at them with longing while the riding instructor corrected her posture for what felt like the millionth time. 

They came back to watch when she had to try out the sidesaddle again and giggled as she almost fell off numerous times. At one point, she was so annoyed she snapped at them, yelling that they should try it themselves before mocking her. She became more and more agitated and jumped down from the pony, tears in her eyes, rambling about how unjust and stupid and superfluous the sidesaddle was. The riding instructor tried to calm her down, but Iona was so far into her tantrum that she did not listen, so she didn’t hear Thor’s words when he first spoke them.

“The Valkyries didn’t ride sidesaddle either,” he explained to their riding instructor and the numerous stable hands who had joined them to see what all the turmoil was about.

Iona kept going on about injustice when Loki pulled at her arm.

“What?” she snapped angrily.

“Thor is right. The Valkyries didn’t ride sidesaddle,” he said with a grin.

Iona looked from Loki to Thor, who had the pompous air of someone who had just made a very wise and rather brilliant observation – and wasn’t used to it -, arms crossed and grinning at the riding instructor who seemed at a loss for words. 

“My Prince, that may be true, but Lady Iona is not a Valkyrie,” he tried, but it was clear that he was fighting a losing battle. 

“Then I name her Valkyrie of Honor,” Thor answered stubbornly.

“My Prince, there is no such thing as a Valkyrie of honor…,” the man tried to reason, but was faced with a stern glance from the usually ever smiling golden-haired prince. With a sigh, he gave in.

“I will talk to the Queen about this. If she allows it, Lady Iona will not have to learn how to ride sidesaddle,” he relented.

Thor turned to Iona with a wide grin on his face that was mirrored on Loki’s as well. Her lessons this day continued on a regular saddle until it was time for the children to return to the palace. 

On their way back, they made a detour through the other stables, the princes pointing out horses, telling her stories about their owners or what was special about some of the animals.

“So how was your first day at riding?” Loki asked her as they were making their way back to their rooms in the evening, dawdling because they didn’t want to go to bed yet.

The three children were utterly exhausted and completely happy. They had been riding the whole afternoon, Thor and Loki racing and jumping their ponies while Iona got used to the feeling of steering a breathing creature where she wanted it to go. She couldn’t imagine to ever race a horse, though.

“Hm, it was difficult, but also fun. But my butt hurts,” she said with a grin.

Loki giggled. 

“What?” she asked.

“You said butt,” Loki answered, still giggling. Thor grinned as well, though he didn’t find this as amusing as the two younger children. He felt very mature at this point.

“And now you said it too,” Iona said cheekily. 

Loki looked at her with astonishment and then he burst out in laughter. Iona joined in and soon, tears were streaming down their cheeks, the younger children entertaining each other by coming up with as many words containing “butt” as possible.


	5. A Friendship and A Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iona meets Heimdall and goes on a little journey. Loki is concerned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the wonderful @we_dreamerz for beta-ing!

Loki had a private lesson with Frigga again. Iona knew they were discussing his shapeshifting and other special abilities. She tried, she really _tried_ not to be jealous, though she didn’t succeed. Not really. She had special lessons with a Vanir magician and scholar, and she knew Loki envied her about those as well, but still… 

The girl tried to distract herself from thoughts from the secrets the Queen might share with her friend. She intended to do something she'd wanted to do for quite a while, though she never found the courage to do it. However, her curiosity finally prevailed, and she set out towards the rainbow bridge. She’d always been fascinated by the oscillating, vibrant colors of the construction, and had often looked at it from the palace windows, wondering what it was made of, why it was so colorful and what its secrets were.

Her focus today wasn’t the rainbow bridge, though. She was able to make out the small space – the observatory - where Heimdall the Watcher was... well, watching. She set out on her long walk, looking with wonder at the changing colors of the bridge that each of her steps caused. She walked slowly, not daring to get too close to the edge, yet determined to reach her goal.

Iona spotted Heimdall from a distance. It took some courage to do this; she did not know the Watcher personally yet. He was looking in her direction, standing in the doorway of the observatory. When she finally stood in front of him, he looked straight at her, amber eyes looking directly into her soul as though discovering all her secrets, knowing everything about her that there was to know. It was difficult not to flinch and for a moment she felt like turning around and running all the way back to the palace. But she stood her ground.

"The little elemental magician. Welcome, little girl. What brings you here?" the Watcher asked, his voice a beautiful dark timbre. 

He knew who she was, of course he did; she should have been prepared for this. She did not look away but held his gaze. 

"Curiosity brings me here," she simply answered, her voice steady. 

"Curiosity is one of the strongest powers in the universe, driving millions and millions of souls towards their respective goals, be they good or bad. It can never be fully satisfied, no matter how hard one tries. How can I help you, girl?" he asked not unfriendly. 

Iona straightened her posture. 

"You may call me Iona, if you like, Heimdall the Watcher. I would like to talk to you about the things you see. About the places and different worlds you lay your eyes upon. I had hoped you would agree to talk to me and tell me things," she said boldly, hoping not to be rude, or too straightforward.

Heimdall kept a straight face, as always. 

"What is it that you want to know?" he asked after a brief silence. 

Iona did not know where to start, she had so many questions, but she didn’t want to ask them all at once in case it were too many. Though she also didn’t want to miss the opportunity to have them answered. She took a deep breath.

"Uhm… everything. I want to know about Vanaheim, about Midgard, about Jotunheim, about Hel, about Alfheim, about all the realms and what lies beyond. I want to know about the things you saw in the past and the things you see now, about things that changed so much that one would not recognize them anymore and about things that remain the same no matter what. I want to know about places and people and creatures and things so strange to us that they seem impossible. Please... I want to know what is out there, the wonders of the universe, the most perilous and beautiful places, the oddest creature, the nicest and most dangerous people, I just... want to know," Iona's tone had become almost desperate and she was very agitated and she looked up at the towering man pleadingly.

"There are books written about the places and people I see. You could obtain knowledge through reading those books," Heimdall answered. 

"I know, I've read them. Most of them. Well, some of those I was allowed to read and a few more. But I want to know it from you. You can see it all, all the time. You can see what isn’t written, what people think unimportant to write down or what has been changed when writing. Please..." She did not know what more she could say to convince the Watcher to talk to her. 

Heimdall, whose gaze had wandered to a place behind her – if a few feet or half a realm behind her, she didn’t know -, looked back at her. He was silent for a long time, but Iona refused to look away and stubbornly kept her eyes on his.

"Then sit down and listen," he finally said and started to talk. 

Iona sat down next to him, crossed her legs and listened. She was captured by his tales. She forgot everything around her and travelled with Heimdall through the different worlds, through the nine realms and far beyond. To faraway places in other realms that no Asgardian had ever set foot on as well as the village in which she had grown up. His melodious voice carried her to many different places, painting a picture in her mind of the things he saw. She forgot about time and did not feel her stomach growl when he suddenly interrupted his speech.

"You have been here for a long time. They are already looking for you at the palace. It is time for you to go back." 

Iona felt like she was waking up from a dream, a kind of trance maybe. She had to blink several times to bring her focus back to the here and now. 

"But... I... there is so much more..." she whispered, looking up at him, her eyes round. 

Heimdall shook his head. 

"You have to go back now. However, you may come back here whenever it pleases you. I will tell you more." 

Iona's face lit up with a broad smile when she heard those words. She stretched her limbs, stiff from sitting there for such a long time and got up. Before leaving, she looked back at Heimdall and asked again if she could _really_ come back at any time. When the answer was affirmative, she nodded with a happy grin. 

As she didn’t want to walk all the way back, she conjured a piece of clay that floated three feet above the Bifröst. She thanked Heimdall for his stories and sat down on the clay, her feet dangling over the edge. Then, she slowly floated towards the palace. It was a trick she had learned only a few weeks ago, when she had found out that she could hover over the ground. She knew that in the long run, she would be able to fly everywhere if she so desired, but she was still wobbly and insecure without something solid under her feet. She managed to float clay, though, so she often conjured platforms now on which she stood or sat, floating around the palace, often scaring the hel out of the servants, which amused Loki greatly. She turned around and waved. Heimdall's look seemed far away again, and his only reaction was a barely noticeable nod.

Arriving at the palace, Iona was greeted by two very impatient princes. 

"Where have you been? We've been looking for you!" 

"I've been... everywhere!" she grinned when she saw their confused faces. 

"Come on, I am starving! Let us dine together!" she laughed.

Iona would keep returning to Heimdall many times, even years later. She'd usually sit down next to him and listen to whatever he chose to tell her. Sometimes she would bring food or drink with her, though he would rarely eat or drink in her company. She'd been scared of him in the beginning, but soon, she came to like him a lot. 

The feeling was mutual, though Heimdall started to worry for the girl. He did not like the influence life at the palace might have on her when she grew older. Though it had yet to be seen if she'd let herself be influenced by all the joys and distractions the palace could offer to a girl growing up. He wasn’t certain about Odin’s plans for the girl either, though he had a vague idea. She would make a formidable weapon if Asgard ever needed her as such, her magic becoming stronger and stronger, her mastery of it becoming better and better. The Watcher was concerned for her. He had a feeling there were decisions made for her in the future that she wouldn’t like. He didn’t tell her about the biggest secret either, the one only him, the Allfather and the Allmother were aware of. For now, however, he could only wait to see what the future would bring.

 

A few weeks after her first excursion to Heimdall, Iona was excited to leave the palace for a week. She would be going to visit her parents. They had occasionally visited her at the capital, often combining work appointments with their visits, but she hadn’t been at her home village for almost one year and a half. Time had flown by for her, always learning new things and playing with the two princes who still were her only friends. 

Her father would be coming to the palace to deliver some magically enhanced and protected boots for the Einherjar and would take her back to their village with him. She was to return a week later, with a merchant who was friends with her parents and would be traveling to the capital anyway. 

 

While Iona was looking forward to her journey, Loki was pouting. He couldn’t imagine why she would want to be away from the palace. He didn’t like to be left behind. During the two weeks leading to her departure Loki became more and more quiet in Iona’s presence. The ever observant Allmother, however, took notice of Loki’s changed behavior. She had a suspicion about what was bothering him and when she sat down next to her younger son’s bed three days before Iona was to leave, she adressed him.

“Loki, my darling, are you alright? I am under the impression something is concerning you,” she asked, softly stroking a strand of black hair from the boy’s forehead.   
He looked up at her, mildly surprised and didn’t answer at first. The Queen smiled at him reassuringly.

“I… I don’t want Iona to leave,” he mumbled eventually. His voice was barely audible, but his mother had heard him, nonetheless.

“Oh Loki! It is only for a week. Time will pass quickly. I promise you that. And don’t you think Iona will be happy to see her place of her birth again? The home in which she grew up. And her mother, the little friends she had before she came here?” the Allmother knew immediately that her last sentence didn’t help at all. On the contrary, Loki’s expression had gone dark.

“Her friends? What if she wants to stay there with them?” he asked bluntly.

Frigga smiled patiently, sighing. This was typical for her little boy. She wasn’t sure where it came from, maybe a subconscious reaction to the traumatic very early childhood experience of being left behind? He’d been a very young infant back then, but from time to time, she got the suspicion that his fear of being abandoned stemmed from these crucial moments in his past. She slowly shook her head.

“Iona will come back. She has so much more to learn here, with you and the others. Think about it, Loki. If you were to stay somewhere else from here, at another place, but your father and me would be here and just able to sometimes visit you for a day, wouldn’t you like to spend a week with us, occasionally?” she asked. 

Loki looked at her, skeptically.

“And even though you would be happy to be with us, imagine Thor and Iona would be at that other place, waiting for your return. You would certainly miss them and be happy to go back to them after a while. Iona will feel the same. You are here, and Thor is here, and her books are here, and you know how much she enjoys her books!” the Queen continued.

A smile spread on Loki’s cheeks. 

“So, you are sure she will return here?” he asked shyly. 

Frigga laughed.

“Of course, she will return, Loki! You must accept that she is looking forward to this journey, however! I am certain she will have to tell you so much about her travel when she comes back! And what about you, Loki, don’t you think it would be nice to learn a new spell until she comes back? You could show her and teach her, if you want!” the Allmother suggested.

The young Prince’s eyes lit up. 

“You would let me teach her a spell? A new one?” he asked, suddenly excited. 

“If you have mastered it when she returns, then of course, why not? I would be there too, but you would teach it. How does that sound?” she asked, knowing perfectly well that she had managed to take her son’s mind off the issue of Iona leaving and give him something to look forward to at the same time. 

“You would have to study hard for it first. Do you think you could do that?” she asked.

Loki’s eyes were shining with excitement. He nodded fiercely, already trying to picture himself as a teacher. 

“What kind of spell, mother?” he asked.

The Queen laughed.

“I will look one up that is suitable. But it’s late, my darling. You should sleep now,” she said, leaning forward to kiss him on the forehead. 

Loki closed his eyes when his mother’s lips pressed a gentle kiss to his skin and when she positioned her cheek next to his face for him to kiss her goodnight, he happily obliged.   
“Good night, mother,” he mumbled.

Leaving the room, Frigga turned back to him one last time. Loki was lying on his back, his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. The Queen chuckled as she closed the door. She knew her son well enough to know that he wouldn’t be sleeping any time soon, too occupied with daydreams about teaching spells to his friend.

 

Iona was giddy with excitement. She couldn’t sit still for more than a few seconds. Her father would come to pick her up after breakfast. He stayed at the capital since the day before when he had distributed the new boots to the Einherjar. He would have a short private audience with the King and Queen, who would inform him about Iona’s progress and her behavior at the palace and then they would travel back to their village. Iona had packed and unpacked four times, driving the always patient Dagmar to the edge of reason.   
Now, she was waiting next to her father’s boat in the courtyard with Dagmar after being informed by an Einherjar that her father’s audience was over.

When he finally appeared through the huge palace portal, Iona ran to him and jumped up into his arms. Both of them were laughing loudly when he lifted her up to pull her into a hug and kiss her cheek. 

“Iona, you have grown again! And what do we have here, would you introduce us?” her father asked, gesturing towards her stuffi wolf that she kept clutched close to her. He set her down, taking her other hand.

“This is Ikol, my wolf. Ikol is Loki backwards, he gave him to me, so we decided to name him thus. I _told_ you about him!” she explained eagerly. 

“Oh, this is Ikol! It is my pleasure to finally meet you, Ikol,” her father answered, shaking the wolf’s paw, much to Iona’s delight.

They walked towards the boat where Dagmar waiter with Iona’s luggage. Her father and Dagmar exchanged a few words, and then they were about to board the boat. 

At that moment, however, they heard shouting from the entrance to the palace and a second later, the two princes came running towards them. They stopped in front of the boat and while Loki was still catching his breath, Thor pulled Iona in a hug. 

“We came to say goodbye,” the golden-haired prince explained, still huffing. 

From the corner of her eye, Iona saw her father bow to the princes, something that amazed her to no end. After all, they were just Thor and Loki, her _friends_! She often forgot that they were princes.

“My, my, did you two run all the way down here from your chambers?” Dagmar asked, brushing a lock of blond hair from Thor’s sweaty forehead. 

“Well, yes! Mother told us Iona would be leaving now. We said goodbye yesterday, but we wanted to be here to see her off,” Thor explained in a voice that made it absolutely clear he was just stating the obvious. 

Iona grinned.

“You’re taking Ikol with you?” Loki asked, eyes fixed on the little wolf.

“Yes, of course I’m taking him. I have to look after him and he has to look after me!” she explained earnestly, making the adults smile upon her explanation. 

Loki nodded fiercely. 

“You’re right. He has to keep you company when we aren’t there,” he simply said. 

Iona looked at him with big eyes. It was as if she’d just realized she would be leaving her friends behind. Her father sensed the shift in her mood and began to gently urge her on to get on the boat. After another hug to Thor and an almost shy one to Loki, she finally complied. The two princes and Dagmar stood in the courtyard, waving at her when the boat gained high and Iona waved back until they all weren’t much more than tiny specks in the distance.

She was quiet for a few minutes, but soon, she sat down next to her father, holding Ikol in her lap while telling him everything she had learned, about what she did in her spare time, about practicing her abilities and about playing with the princes. She even mentioned Heimdall a few times, though not nearly as often as the queen or Dagmar and when they arrived at her home in the late afternoon, she started over again to tell her mother the same things. 

The week went by quickly. Iona spent time with her parents, trying to avoid the incredibly nosy neighbor Helga, who would come by in the afternoons and try to ask as many questions about the royal household as she could. Iona soon started to make up exaggerated stories that brought her scolding from her mother and caused fits of laughter from her father and made Helga stay away from her. She went swimming in the lake again, an activity she missed greatly, as well as walking and climbing around in the mountains close to the lake.

During the week, she became more and more determined to bring the two princes along one day, to show them where she grew up, show them the tiny island she had been born on and after which she had been names. She wanted to swim with them and play by the lake, show them her favorite spots and figure out ways to bug Helga. It would be great fun!  
When she had to leave again, she cried and her parents promised they would pick her up again soon, though her sorrow was quickly forgotten when she boarded the boat of her parent’s merchant friend. The girl proceeded to grill him on all the places he’d been to, hearing first hand reports from Vanaheim. 

Upon arriving back at the palace, she was a bit disappointed not to see Thor or Loki anywhere. Dagmar appeared and helped her with her luggage, though she wasn’t even half way back to her room when she heard the sound of running feet. A moment later, the two princes turned a corner and soon, they were all sitting on her bed, all three of them talking at the same time, yet grasping what the others said, nonetheless. Dagmar merely shook her head. 

Iona didn’t know that Thor and Loki had bugged the guards repeatedly, giving them instructions to seek them out immediately upon Iona’s return. The queen heard about her sons’ pleas and laughingly agreed that one of the palace guards should inform first Dagmar, then her and the princes about the girl’s return. Though the two of them argued that they wanted to be informed prior to Dagmar, in the end, the queen just told them they would be the first to hear about Iona’s arrival in order to calm them down. 

The queen smiled when she told her sons about the girl’s return, watching them run down the corridor to greet their friend. She was delighted about their friendship and enjoyed their happiness. She knew that most of the noble children snubbed Iona for her origin, but she was proud that the princes both accepted the girl for who she was. She hoped this attitude would help them one day when the truth about Loki’s origin would have to be revealed.


	6. Dwarves, Cake and Chicken Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title says it all... well, maybe not quite. We see were Iona's loyalty lies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Thank you to everyone who is reading this/keeps reading. You're the real mvps! I hope you guys like this slightly longer chapter. Iona-centric this time.
> 
> Seriously, thank you for your patience. The next chapter is in the works, as is so much more to this fic, but it's always taking longer than I expect, so... Hang in there! :-)
> 
> Thank you @we_dreamerz for beta'ing and general support!

The celebrations for Frigga’s name day were getting closer and closer. The palace was bustling with activity and preparations for the festivities were in full swing. Decorations had to be set up, feasts had to be planned and royal and noble visitors from all over Asgard as well as some of the other realms would have to be accommodated and entertained.

Iona and Thor were playing tag in the middle of the chaos that currently was the great hall, running past servants who were setting up banquet tables and decorations, shouting orders and directions at each other while still trying to curtesy every time the blond prince ran past them, interrupting their work every single time. Thor was quite oblivious to it and Iona secretly enjoyed it. The same people who had to bow to Thor always treated her with reservation at best, their children excluding her in their play.

“Thor! Iona! Where are you?” a familiar voice called for them.

The children stopped in their play, both panting and red in their faces. They waved at Loki who had been the one calling for them. He came running towards them, grinning.

“They’re here! The first guests have arrived! The dwarves are here,” he explained excitedly. 

Thor and Iona just looked at each other with wide eyes.

“Where?” was all Thor asked.

“The throne room,” Loki answered, and the three children took off running to see the visitors.

Iona had never seen a dwarf, though she knew they were quite tall. Her parents had spoken of them with high regards, having visited Nidavellir several times together before Iona had been born. Later, her father had visited them once per year alone. After all, the dwarves were famous for their weaponry and Iona’s parents made magically enforced boots for soldiers, so a little exchange of thoughts and ideas when working for the same target group was useful. 

The three children managed to sneak into the throne room unseen by the guests or king and queen, but when they moved closer to the throne, the queen spotted them. With a smile, she gestured for them to come forward. The two princes followed, but Iona stayed back, suddenly feeling awkwardly out of place and terrible alone. The dwarves were huge, rather intimidating, and now standing between her and her friends who had joined their parents. She hovered close to the wall and tried to be as small and invisible as possible. The queen had promised to teach them how to turn themselves invisible eventually and at this moment, Iona wished she’d already done that with all her heart. Very slowly, she tried to sneak back towards the doors, as noiseless as possible, while Loki and Thor were introduced.

“King Sindri, may I introduce my sons Thor and Loki, the princes of this realm!” Odin’s voice boomed.

The dwarf king bowed his head in greeting. Niceties were exchanges and the princes tried not to stare at the tall figures before them. Sindri had brought his sturdy, but in her own way beautiful, queen Kara with him, as well as his best blacksmith Eitri and a diplomat named Undri who of course turned out to be a tradesman through and through as was common among dwarves. 

The dwarves would take up residence in a part of the palace that had been prepared for them, the smith later being expected in the armory, the diplomat supposed to visit the market, and the royal couple were to spend the afternoon with their Asgardian counterparts. 

The princes were burning to ask questions about the realm of the dwarves, and they couldn’t wait for the afternoon to come. However, both realized something or rather someone was missing. 

“Where is Iona? Can she come with us later? She wants to hear about Nidavellir too,” Loki asked his mother while they were making their way to the dwarf royalties’ accommodation, accompanying their guests.

“Ah yes, she has to join us!” Thor exclaimed.

The queen hesitated. The afternoon was supposed to be spent between royals; this was tradition upon greeting other royal guests on Asgard. 

“Who has to join us?” the dwarf king asked, falling in step next to them, which meant he had to walk rather slow. His queen Kara was immersed in a lively discussion with Odin, walking in front of them, so he decided to join the rest of Asgard’s royalty. 

Before Frigga could answer, Thor chimed in.

“Our friend Iona. She’s learning magic with Loki and wants to know everything about the other realms. She was with us earlier, I don’t know where she went…,” Thor trailed off, wrinkling his brow in thought. 

“Iona, huh? The name sounds familiar,” the dwarf king mused, to Frigga’s surprise. 

“Eitri, why does the name Iona sound familiar?” Sindri asked, half turning to the blacksmith who was walking behind them. 

“Iona? Iona Ingasdottir is the only Iona I’ve heard of. She is Ingwar’s daughter, he told us about her,” Eitri answered. 

“Yes, that’s her!” Loki piped in.

Sindri laughed, a loud, booming sound that made the windows rattle and some of the smaller statues wobble.

“By all means, bring her along! Ingwar has told us stories about her, hasn’t he, Eitri? I’m curious to meet her. After all her father said, she must be a wild little firecracker,” the dwarf king answered cheerfully. 

Frigga smiled. Of course, she had known that Iona’s father visited Nidavellir on a regular basis and traded and worked there. She hadn’t realized just how familiar he was with the dwarf king, though it made sense. The dwarves were few and had a different take on royalty and power. When a king died, the best craftsman became his successor. There was no nobility among the dwarven society, no higher or lower class and their kings often stood at the forge just like any other dwarf. Bringing Iona along this afternoon would break Asgardian protocol, but as it was the wish of their guests, they couldn’t deny them. Maybe it was for the best. Frigga had always felt that certain parts of Asgardian royal rules were rather outdated. 

“Can we go tell her to come to the garden later?” Thor asked and he and Loki were looking up at the queen with big, pleading eyes. She chuckled.

“Of course, go, tell her to be ready,” she answered and off they went, running down the hallway in search for their friend.

 

Meanwhile, Iona was sitting on one of her new favorite places, which was equal parts dangerous, beautiful, and incredibly difficult to access. She sat right on the peak of the highest golden spire of Asgard’s palace. The strong wind played with her hair, tugging at the strands that had escaped her braid. From here, she could see the end of the rainbow bridge with the observatory and the void of space behind that on one side. On the other was the capital, as well as the country that lay behind that. In the far, far distance, she spotted the mountaintops that marked where her home village was seated beneath the clouds. She had climbed those mountains when she was smaller and knew that when the weather was right, one could see the sun reflect from the gold of the palace at the capital. 

A few weeks ago, she had finally mastered flying. She was still wobbly on occasion, but always caught herself and managed to regain her balance. One sleepless night, she’d sneaked out of her room to one of the public balconies. The moon had been full and reflected on the golden surface of the palace. That was when she started to wonder if maybe, she could see the world from up there. 

Only clad in house slippers, a nighty and a thin robe, Iona had summoned a broad piece of clay and climbed on top of it. Concentrating, she let the clay dissolve again. She was hovering a foot above the ground now. This was nothing new to her, she’d done it often. However, this time, she let a steady gust of wind push against the soles of her feet, effectively lifting her higher and higher. She avoided flying past windows, she didn’t want to be spotted. Staying close to the walls of the palace, Iona flew upwards. The wind picked up and pulled on her clothes and hair, but she didn’t relent. She had a goal and she would reach it. 

When she first set foot on top of the palace, she couldn’t suppress a shout of sheer joy. She’d done this and now, she felt on top of the world! Well, at least on top of the capital. The peak of the palace domes was surprisingly broad and flat, though it looked rounded when looked at from the ground. She could take a few steps in each direction, but soon settled for the slightly elevated spot right in the middle. The polished gold – undoubtedly put under a spell to keep gleaming and shiny and smooth – was a bit slippery, but Iona managed. She sat down and looked at the stars, wondering in which direction the other realms lay and what other worlds were out there. 

Getting down from her lookout was easier than she’d feared. She started to hover over the middle where she’d sat, then moved forward until she flew over the edge. The ground was far, far below but she wasn’t scared. Iona trusted in her powers and her ability to control them. She made a slow descend, though she was determined to test how fast she could go at another time. With a broad, content grin, she made her way back to her room and slipped under the covers. 

Now, she was sitting on top of the palace, lost in thought. It had been weird, sneaking into the throne room, the dwarves towering in front of the king and queen. She’d been fascinated by them, a thousand questions already on her mind. Then, as the queen beckoned the princes closer, she’d felt left behind. Of course, she knew she didn’t belong there. Didn’t belong with them, not at that moment at least. After all, the king and queen, and her friends were _family. Royal_ family. They were important, had to meet other royals, had to talk to them, would have to befriend them, so much she knew. One day in the distant future, the two princes would have to choose a princess from another realm or a noble girl from Asgard and marry them. And Iona would be left behind.

She knew her parents hadn’t left her, not really. They had brought her to the palace to learn, to master her skills. Still, sometimes she felt lost and alone, not belonging in the gilded world of pomp and circumstances that was the palace. Yet when she’d been back at their village, she’d felt left out there too. The other children hadn’t wanted to play with her, the grown-ups were only interested in gossip from the palace, not in her as a person, only in her as a manner of accessing information on life at the far away, golden palace and its oh so important inhabitants.

 _“It is a dangerous place you’ve picked there, little one,”_ a sudden voice in her head made Iona flinch. 

“Heimdall?” she asked out loud, looking around but only seeing the empty platform and the usual magnificent sight of Asgard at her feet. 

_“That is right, Iona. Did you forget why they call me the Watcher? I can see everything in the nine realms, and I can address Asgardians everywhere through a connection with their minds,”_ the voice in her head explained.

Iona sat up straighter. 

“And you can hear what I am saying? Can you always do that?” she asked, dozens of questions coming to her mind at once.

 _“I can, but only when I chose to. They are looking for you at the palace, Iona,”_ the Watcher explained.

Iona snorted. 

“Looking for me? Why, are they bored by the dwarves all of a sudden and have remembered me?” she asked, sounding meaner and more bitter than intended. 

Heimdall’s answer came a bit delayed. 

_“You must not blame the princes for the protocol and rules they have to follow. It is not as easy for them as you would think. However, be that as it may, the dwarf king wants to meet you,”_ Heimdall explained. 

Iona‘s eyes became big and round.

“The dwarf king? Why would he want to meet me?” she asked incredulous. 

_“He is an acquaintance of your father,”_ the Watcher said. 

Iona remembered the things her father had told her about the dwarves. Of course, he would talk to them about his family too! She wondered what he had said, but it seemed to have been enough to spark some kind of curiosity in the dwarves. A broad grin spread on Iona’s face. Maybe she wasn’t as boring and insignificant as she had felt only moments ago. 

Knowing that Heimdall was watching her, she made a show of leaving the place. She simply stepped over the edge and fell, enjoying the crazy feeling of freedom and danger for a moment before slowing her descent until she was hovering next to a common balcony. Still having difficulties when landing after descending, she almost lost her balance but managed to steady herself. A triumphant expression on her features, she made her way inside to go look for the princes. She would almost bet she heard a deep chuckle in Heimdall’s voice in her head, though that surely was just her imagination, as the watcher never laughed.

 

Iona hadn’t expected the dwarves to be so open and friendly to her, but she soon felt very comfortable around them. Especially Eitri, who’d worked with her father only the previous year. He was talking animatedly, discussing spells and how they could be worked into a piece of armor with her. The dwarf took Iona seriously and explained several aspects of melting and forming breastplates to her. Iona replied with ideas and questions about magic embedded in it and came up with suggestions on how to use ice for protection. Eitri listened and explained why certain things weren’t possible and answered the girl’s questions. He even went as far as to invite her to Nidavellir at some point in the future, to have a look at things herself. Of course, Iona accepted enthusiastically.

Loki didn’t know if he liked this. He had tried to take part in the conversation; but, for some reason he couldn’t quite grasp, he quickly grown bored. Then, he’d tried to get Iona’s attention. He’d wanted to get her to leave and play, but she only waved him away, the gesture bordering on insolence, considered that he was a prince of Asgard! Thor was fascinated by a pair of shin guards that Sindri had presented to the Allfather.

“You are allowed to leave if you want to,” his mother whispered close to his ear. 

He hadn’t heard her approach him, so her voice made him jump a little. She smiled down at him. Looking at the other two children deep in conversation again, Loki nodded.

“Thank you, mother,” he whispered back before slipping away. 

 

Later that day, the Nidavellir delegation retired to their accommodations. They would spend the evening alone, as was their wish. The royal family of Asgard took dinner together in their own rooms, which meant Iona was eating hers with Dagmar and other higher-ranking servants. She would have been allowed to join the other children that were taught and brought up in the palace, but as they ignored her – due to fear, arrogance or both - she preferred the company of the servants. She liked to listen to their stories, the news from the common people. 

Iona had taken to Endre, the equerry who laughed most of the time, hundreds of tiny crinkles next to his eyes and never short of another hilarious tale. She loved it when he sat down next to her. The man smelled of horses and leather and Iona couldn’t get enough of that smell. It meant freedom and fun. 

She’d become an avid rider in a short time, not just on ponies but also on proper horses. There was a very stubborn and obstinate mare called Alsvin that the girl had taken a liking to. To the utter astonishment of everyone who knew the horse, the feeling was mutual. The reddish-brown horse allowed the girl to feed and caress her and Iona was soon seen riding her up and down the courtyard. Usually, the animal would snap for people and only let a few selected stable boys touch her, but Iona was an exception. There even seemed to be a mutual understanding between the two when the horse stepped on the foot of a stable boy whom Iona didn’t like. She’d seen the boy pushing and yelling at the horse and when he’d hobbled away, the girl brought forth a delicious apple to the snorting horse that almost seemed to laugh with her. 

Endre was telling her about Alsvin during dinner tonight and Iona laughed with him. Much too soon for her liking, Dagmar reminded her that it was time to go to bed. With a dramatic sigh, the girl got up and wished the equerry a good night. She knew that not everyone at the table liked her presence, that some tried to use her to get to the royal family or tried to influence her one way or another. Iona wasn’t stupid and she had a certain skill to see people’s real intentions or at least know when they weren’t honest with her. Endre, however, was always up front. He said what he meant, and Iona appreciated this quality in him. Also, Alsvin let him ride her, which to Iona was a very strong argument in favor of someone’s character.

Lying in bed later, Iona closed her eyes and imagined Alsvin stealing apples from the slightly dumb horse in the box next to hers when there was a shy knock on her door, followed by the soft squeak the opening door always gave. Iona sat up in her bed. The candle on her nightstand came to a flickering life. 

“Iona? Are you awake?” a well-known voice whispered.

“Thor? Loki? What are you doing here?” she asked, wide awake. 

The two princes shuffled closer and Iona saw that they were dressed in their sleeping garb, a soft tunic and leggings. Both held metal boxes in their hands, the kind of metal boxes that were used to transport food down in the kitchens. 

“What’s that?” she asked, nodding at the boxes after Thor nudged the door shut with his foot. 

The boys both grinned broadly.

“We’ve been in the kitchens. We brought some deserts they prepared for tomorrow,” Thor explained while climbing onto Iona’s bed. 

Loki followed suit. He got comfortable, leaning with his back against the wall while Thor sat cross-legged opposite Iona. They placed the boxes between them. Iona had her knees pulled up, resting her chin on them and looked at the boxes expectantly. With a pompous air, Thor lifted the lid of his box. 

“Ooooh! So many cakes!” Iona whispered. 

Small cakes and tarts were piled in the box, some with chocolate, some with caramel, some with frosting of different colors and fruits in the middle. 

“There’s more!” Loki announced and opened his box.

There were small glasses filled with cream and pudding of different tastes as well as small, blocky sugary treats. Loki even had spoons with him. Iona stared at the contents of the boxes with big, round eyes. 

“And they gave them to you? Just like that?” she wondered.

The brothers shared a conspiratorial look that said it all. Loki grinned smugly. 

“Not really, no. Nobody knows those are missing. Iona, you should have seen the kitchens! They are full of food, I mean not like they usually are anyways, but fuller. There are so many sweets prepared…” he drifted off, looking at their plunder longingly. 

“And we can eat them all?” Iona asked hopefully. She wasn’t hungry, but there was always room for sweets! 

“Of course, that’s what we brought them for!” Thor interjected. He grabbed one of the chocolate cakes and took a substantial bite. 

Iona gaped at him for a moment longer before grabbing a spoon and a glass of caramel pudding. Soon, all three of them had chocolate and caramel smudges all over their faces and were gobbling down the sweet treats. 

The three children fell asleep on Iona’s bed, surrounded by crumbs, pudding spots and molten chocolate that one of them had sat or lay on. They had no idea about the commotion the princes’ empty beds had caused in the morning. Sometimes, they would sleep in the same bed. Sometimes, they would get up early – though that seldom happened – but then the Einherjar would have seen them leave the royal quarters. This time, nobody had seen them. The princes were missing, and half the population of the palace was looking for them. 

This was why the three children sleeping peacefully on Iona’s bed were woken by a shrill scream from Dagmar who had come to wake the girl. The three of them were sitting up, rubbing the sleep from their eyes when the maid drew back the curtains, revealing the remnants of last night’s feast. She clucked her tongue and went into a monologue, telling them what a shock it this morning had been when the princes were missing. 

The children couldn’t see the problem. Not when Dagmar tried to explain. Not when Queen Frigga herself appeared at the door, her gaze drifting over the empty pudding bowls and cake plates to the smudges on the children’s’ faces and told them with a barely contained smirk how desperate she’d been in the morning when they were discovered missing. Not even when the Allfather entered and scolded the princes. After all, it had only been a bit of fun and nothing bad had happened, so why was everyone so mad about it? 

The princes left with the Allfather; Loki looked back at Iona with a shrug. A maid Iona didn’t know cleared off the mess the children had made while Dagmar gave Iona an earful about nicking sweets from the kitchen as well as about sneaking from the room at night. Iona tried to explain that she hadn’t been sneaking anywhere, but the maid wouldn’t listen, which in turn enraged Iona. She was so angry that could barely keep herself from setting something ablaze but resorted to yelling at Dagmar. It was all such a mess! And it wasn’t even her fault! 

When she finally got Dagmar to listen, angry tears streamed down her face. The nurse soon hugged the girl to calm her down. She tried to explain that everyone was so on edge because the princes had been missing and because people had been worried about them. Iona soon calmed down, though she still didn’t see the problem. After all, nothing had happened! Well, the kitchens missed a few deserts for the feast the following day, but that couldn’t be so tragic. 

Iona saw the princes again in the afternoon. They both did not look happy.

“We have to sit at the royal table tomorrow. With all the grown-ups and without you,” Thor explained annoyed. 

Of course, they all knew this wasn’t a result from their actions as the punishment for stealing the sweets was that all three of them wouldn’t be allowed to eat desert at the feast. Nevertheless, it felt like it was all connected. 

“Where am I going to sit?” Iona asked. She looked from one brother to the other.

“You’ll have to sit in the back with the noble children from class,” Loki explained.

Iona made a face. 

They were all feeling rather miserable for the rest of the day. The feast itself turned out to be as boring for either of them as they had feared. Iona had nobody to talk to as the other children from her classes didn’t want to be in contact with her. 

Thor and Loki had to be polite and well-behaved, though they were bored to death with the conversations they had to listen to. Furthermore, there was an obnoxious Vanir princess who would go on and on about how charming and cute she found the princes and how she would gladly wait for them to grow up to strengthen the alliance of Asgard and Vanaheim with a bond between them. Thor was wondering the whole evening what she could possibly mean by that and when he finally asked Loki about it, the younger brother had to admit that he wasn’t entirely _sure_ either. Thor soon forgot about it, but Loki kept mulling over the meaning of said utterance. 

After the feast, when the princes were finally allowed to retire, Thor was getting ready for bed when Dagmar sat down next to Loki who was already comfortably lying back in his own bed. He asked her about the meaning of the Vanir princes and when Dagmar explained to him that it was possible that either Thor or Loki would marry said princess one day, Loki only stared at her in horror.

“I don’t want to marry such an old cow!” he exclaimed, which got him a scolding from Dagmar. 

“But I don’t want to! I don’t… there wasn’t a single nice princess there today. And most girls are boring anyways. Girls are only braiding their hairs and giggling stupidly,” he explained. Why couldn’t Dagmar see this? 

He contemplated the whole girl-issue for a moment before his face lit up.

“I know what I’m going to do! The only nice girl I know is Iona. She can do magic, just like me and she isn’t stupid or boring. So, I’ll marry Iona one day and we can eat as many puddings and cakes as we like because by then, we will be grown up and everyone will have to do what we tell them to. And nobody will care if I’m sleeping in her bed because when people are married, they do sleep in the same bed. And everyone will have to be nice to her because then she is a princess and people must be nice to princesses,” he continued, a smug grin on his features.

Dagmar merely smiled at him, making a mental note to talk to the girl about the people who weren’t nice to her. Of course, the maid knew that Iona didn’t have many friends and that there were occasionally complaints from others about the girl, but she’d always suspected there was more to it than what she heard. Iona wouldn’t talk about it but insisted the other children _deserved_ their singed hair or painfully frozen fingernails. The girl preferred the company of grown up servants to that of the other children from the palace, Dagmar knew. She sighed. Life wasn’t easy for the girl and she didn’t know what she could do to help.

 

After the festivities, the Dwarves and Vanir delegations took their leave. Eitri renewed his promise to Iona about her visiting Nidavellir. The three children watched when the guests from other realms left Asgard via the Bifrost. However, the Ljosalfar delegation was staying in Asgard for more talks and another diplomatic dinner was about to take place.

Loki got himself into a lot of trouble that evening. When he got bored during that tedious, endless dinner with the humorless Ljosalfar, Loki had an idea.

The princes had to sit at the high table again, with their parents and the diplomats. Iona was seated at a table close by with some of the diplomats’ entourage who didn’t spare the girl so much as a glance. She didn’t mind, though, trying to listen in on the strangers’ conversations, wanting to learn about the strange realm of Alfheim. 

The dinner, however, seemed endless and she was very bored because the Ljosalfar would speak their own tongue, a melodious language she wasn’t able to understand. She kept shooting longing glances towards the two boys who at least could whisper together, whereas she had nobody to talk to. A few times, she caught their eyes, but there was nothing any of them could do, really. Or so she thought.

Suddenly the chicken bones on her table rattled to life and began a fierce but elegant dance. The Ljosalfar and Asgardians seated there shrieked, but Iona doubled over with laughter, looking toward the royal table where Thor and Loki both sat grinning from ear to ear, Thor winking at her and pointed at Loki with his thumb as the young magician concentrated on the bones he had bewitched. 

Iona followed suit, enchanting napkins and cutlery to join the dancing bones. It all looked very nice, the napkins functioning as capes for forks, knives and spoons, twirling around the jumping chicken bones. It all happened very fast but then the mayhem that followed was brought to a sudden end by Odin, yelling “ENOUGH!” at nobody in particular. 

Cutlery and napkins stopped moving, but the chicken bones completely ignored the Allfather and continued their actions, now sweeping up napkins as capes or skirts and wielding knifes, chicken skeletons dueling each other in the middle of the tables. Her eyes round, Iona looked at a fuming Allfather. She saw Frigga put her hand on Loki’s arm, who grimaced and at once the ruckus stopped. 

The children were sent out of the great hall. Frigga soon joined them in their common room. A scolding followed, though the three of them agreed that the dinner had been extraordinary boring, and the magic had been great fun. The Queen, however, spotted a sad smile. She soon left and the children were anxious about any further reactions to their highly amusing magic.

Much later, when they had already fallen asleep curled up on the sofa in a tangle of limbs, they were woken to be reprimanded by Odin himself. Loki admitted that he had not stopped his magic after the first command from the king, who was very enraged by his son’s disobedience. They were sent to their chambers, but each of them slept badly for fear of punishment. 

 

The next day, Thor and Iona were already waiting in front of Iona and Loki’s history classroom when the dark-haired prince appeared. He looked miserable. 

“Brother! Where have you been? We did not see you at breakfast,” Thor asked. 

Loki shot him a glance, a heartbroken look on his face. He held up his wrists, which both were encircled by peculiar bracelets. Thor and Iona gasped. They had bound his magic! 

“This is not fair!” Iona exclaimed, stomping her foot in rage and terror.

“I’m not allowed to practice magic for a month. They cannot completely take it away from me, but they can suppress it,” he explained, his voice desperate. 

A month without food would have been less severe for Loki than a month without magic. Iona was enraged. 

“I was part of that prank too, why are you the only one who gets punished?” she asked. 

“I didn’t stop after the Allfather shouted. Apparently, we all are to obey him immediately,” Loki said, his voice full of sadness but tinged with anger and resistance. 

Iona grasped for his wrist, inspecting one of the bracelets. 

“Do you think we could get them off?” she asked. 

Thor took a closer look too, pondering Iona’s idea. 

“We certainly can try,” he said.

They tried, but nothing happened except for Loki getting an electrical shock and Iona breaking two of her nails while fumbling furiously with the bracelet after singeing Loki’s wrists while trying to melt the bracelets. Very angry, she stomped away, not answering the princes’ calls and questions about where she was going. When they met again at dinner – this time an informal affair where everyone was allowed to sit where they wanted –, Loki couldn’t believe his eyes. Iona was wearing the same bracelets as him when she took her seat next to him.

“What are you doing?” he asked her perplexed. 

“I’m showing solidarity. I went to the Allfather and said I didn’t stop the magic either. I think the Queen knows it was a lie and she told him, but in the end, I set the Allfather’s shoes on fire, so they had no other opportunity than to punish me as well,” she said, her head held high proudly. 

Loki could only stare at her. This was incredibly stupid, but he was grateful for her solidarity and a bit proud that she would do such a thing. Finally, he grinned at her and she grinned back. 

“One month without magic, huh? That’s going to be tedious,” Iona mumbled, though she already pulled back her spoon, which was currently armed with a small piece of the Asgardian tomatoes that she detested. 

She let go of the spoon and watched with satisfaction as the tomato piece flew through the hall and disappeared directly into the deep-cut neckline of a Ljosalfar noble woman who was living with an Asgardian general. Luckily enough, the Light Elf did not notice what had happened and both Loki and Iona chuckled contently. 

“Considering that I was aiming at her cup…” she mumbled, and Loki laughed out loud.


	7. An Argument and its Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki and Iona have an argument that turns a bit more violent than they both intended. They have to deal with the consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, wohoo! 
> 
> A few background infos on how things in my version of Asgard work. And Loki and Iona both have a bit of a temperament...

“Midgard is a strange realm,” Loki mumbled.

He was sitting next to Iona at a desk in his room, working on an assignment their teacher had given them. They were supposed to write summaries about the dominating life forms of each of the other eight realms in comparison to life on Asgard and Loki was trying to grasp the concept of Midgardian life. 

“Why do you say such a thing?” Iona mumbled distractedly. 

She was working on the same assignment, though she’d started off with another realm than Loki and as they recently had been reminded to do their assignments separately – a term that had been defined to them as _‘each on their own, not handing in the same sentences in different order, not making the same mistakes, but each writing it ON THEIR OWN'_ – they were working next to each other but without much talking. 

“Midgardians, they are so weak! Did you write your Midgard-part already?” Loki asked, peering over at the parchment in front of her.

“No. I started with Niflheim and Jotunheim, then Svartalfheim. I’m just about to begin with Muspelheim,” Iona explained while tipping each corresponding paragraph on her parchment with the end of her quill. 

Loki shook his head. 

“Of course, you started with the creepy realms,” he mumbled, drawing a face. 

He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he was deliberately stalling writing about the first two realms Iona had just mentioned. They secretly freaked him out, a lot. Niflheim, inhabited by the dead and Jotunheim, full of those monsters with the red eyes, blue skin and black fingernails that had tried to conquer the nine realms. It was a good thing his father had won the war and taken the source of Jotunheim’s strength. Loki remembered the Casket of Ancient Winters very well, hidden away deep down in the dungeons of Asgard. 

“I find them fascinating. One day, I’m going to see them all. The nine realms,” Iona said with a faraway look. Loki frowned.

“You’d have to die first before you can go to Niflheim,” he stated, confused. 

“And nobody is allowed to enter Jotunheim, so you won’t visit those two,” he continued, not understanding why Iona wanted to see _those_ places. 

His friend rolled her eyes.

“Your lack of imagination is disturbing. Helheim could be difficult, but Heimdall told me about it. He’s able to see it. And Jotunheim… who knows. Maybe I’ll find a secret passage, go there and become Queen of the Frost Giants. Who knows,” she said teasingly, laughing at Loki’s shocked expression.

Iona had recently found a book she hadn’t been supposed to read in the first place. It contained interesting information about secret passages between the realms, enabling travel without the Bifrost. She knew some passages had been closed off by Odin. They had formerly been used by smugglers but were unavailable now. Nevertheless, she refused to believe that he managed to close them all. She had hidden the book away underneath the bottom drawer of her nightstand, determined to have a closer look at those passages.

“Queen of the Frost Giants? Why would you even want to be that?” Loki asked, clearly mortified. 

Iona shrugged. 

“Well, why not? It would be nice to be Queen of something. I’ll never be queen of Asgard, so I’ll have to look for my own realm,” she answered, though she was mocking Loki. 

Iona didn’t want to be queen. It was merely a joke. She had learned enough about royal duties to know that it meant you were never truly free to do what you wanted, and she hated the thought. Tedious meetings with boring people. Watching your tongue all the time in order to not accidentally insult arrogant light Elves. No. Royalty wasn’t for her.

Loki still looked at her, wondering what Iona found so fascinating about the deadliest realms that existed. 

“So, what was it about Midgard?” Iona finally asked, reminding him of their original topic. 

“Midgard, yes… The people there, Midgardians… _humans_ … their lives are so short! I have no idea how they accomplish anything in such a short time span. Listen: _‘A Midgardian reaches adulthood at the age of 15 years. Compared to Aesir, the age of 15 for a Midgardian equates to 150 for an Aesir. After that, Midgardians age rapidly while Aesir stay at this phase of aging for the next 200 years. Then, Aesir have reached what would be the equivalent of 20 Midgardian years. Again, Aesir do not age quickly and have a long life until the age of 5200 on average, whereas Midgardians live barely up to the age of 50, if they are lucky._

 _The women are typically married at roughly 15 Midgardian years to be able to produce as many offspring as possible. Women stay in their homes, caring for their children and other relatives. The men are expected to learn a profession. Depending on their place of origin, a culture of plundering and stealing is common.’_

It goes on about their customs as they have many different cultures which is quite confusing, but… It also says that we are _much more advanced in our abilities even as children,_ whatever that means… and… what do you do when you only life 50 years?! And they don’t even have magic!” Loki trailed off, clearly at a loss for words.

Iona shrugged. 

“Well, what of it? I mean, they don’t get much done anyways, as far as I’ve heard,” she answered. 

Then, another thought struck her.

“So, what are we in Midgardian age? 9 or 10, right?” she asked.

Loki looked at her, quickly calculating, then nodded.

“Something like that, yes,” he mumbled, still lost in thought.

“That means I have been at the palace for almost a Midgardian lifespan! Think about that! How odd!” Iona continued, suddenly intrigued by Midgard. Maybe that realm wasn’t as boring as she’d thought.

“They think we’re gods, right?” she asked.

Loki nodded.

“Yes. Though… aren’t we? I mean we do get titles when we’re older, don’t we?” he asked.

“You will, I won’t. It’s a royalty-nobles-thing. I’ll always be Iona Ingasdottir, the girl from the village who can do magic and freak out the neighbors,” she said with a shrug. 

Loki shot her a thoughtful glance.

“Father could give you a title, though. I mean, the Allfather gives out the titles” he wondered.

“But Loki, I don’t care about a title. It doesn’t change anything, really. Except that you can boast with it, though that is stupid. What is so special about being called god of… I don’t know… sunshine. Rain. Wolves. Happiness. Whatever. It’s just… something people say. It doesn’t mean anything,” she tried to explain.

“But it does! People have to respect you for it!” Loki exclaimed. How could she not see that being god of something was important?

“But… No, it doesn’t! Just because Odin says you’re the god of something people should be impressed? That’s very stupid!” Iona replied, equally emotional now.

“He is the Allfather! You have to respect what he says! Titles DO mean something! Odin is the Allfather and King and Protector of the nine realms! Mother is the Allmother, Queen of the nine realms! Those are also titles and they are important! And you should know this, as you’re speaking to Prince Loki of Asgard!” Loki shouted. 

His voice had gradually become louder and louder. He’d added the last bit just to tick Iona off. He knew it would work and he wasn’t disappointed.

 _“I am Prince Loki of Asgard, you cannot say anything mean to me, even if it’s the truth because I am a prince, blabla...”_ Iona mocked him, imitating his voice in whiny drawl. 

Loki hated it when she was like this. He knew he had provoked her. He had known how she would react. Still, it angered him beyond measure. 

The two children were now standing face to face, both furious. 

“Stop that!” Loki yelled, shoving Iona backwards. 

She stumbled, surprised at his action. However, retaliation followed soon as she punched him in the shoulder. 

“You do not scare me, little _prince_ ,” she exclaimed, still mocking his title in a whiny, nasty voice. 

As soon as she had uttered the last word, Loki was trying to punch her. Iona managed to avoid his hand and, in a blink, the two of them were a tangle of limbs, hitting, scratching and even biting. Loki pulled her hair and Iona scratched his cheek. Somehow, the prince managed to lay his hands around Iona’s neck and squeezed. Her arms flailed, she tried to kick him but couldn’t reach him properly. And suddenly, Loki felt like every molecule of his body hurt. Howling with pain, he let go of Iona and as soon as she was free, the pain in his body subsided, albeit slowly. 

He heard her running footsteps through a ringing in his ears. His head was throbbing, his heart racing. He had no idea what she’d done to him, but he knew it was some kind of magic. Loki sat on the floor, panting hard. The ache had dulled down but was still present. He felt exhausted and very thirsty. Something dripped from his nose and he realized he was drenched in sweat. 

He was still sitting on the floor, his clothes sticking to him when there was a soft knock on the door before his mother entered. 

The queen rushed to his side as soon as she saw him. Loki felt like crying, but he also felt dried up. He wasn’t sure if there was enough liquid in him to form tears. The queen made him lean with his back against the wall, then left to say something to the guards. She returned with a wet cloth and a glass of water that Loki downed in one gulp. 

Frigga lifted the boy easily and sat him down on his bed, his back against the headboard, settling down next to him.

Soon, the head healer Eir appeared at Loki’s side. She had a potion for him and more water. Loki started to feel better as soon as he had emptied the small potions bottle.

“Loki, my darling, what happened here?” his mother asked softly. She carefully pushed back a strand of hair that had been sticking to his forehead. 

“It was Iona,” Loki mumbled. 

The queen nodded, trying to encourage him so say more but the boy remained quiet.

“What did she do?” she asked in a quiet, soothing voice.

Loki looked from his mother to Eir and back. He wanted to still be angry at Iona, but he felt like he couldn’t, he was far too exhausted.

“I don’t know. She hurt me. We… we were arguing and then she bit me and scratched, and I hit her and I… I was in so much pain, I don’t know what she did,” he continued, purposefully leaving out the bit where he had choked the girl.

Frigga glanced over at Eir. The healer shrugged, then signaled to the queen that she would be waiting for her outside.

“Loki, you mustn’t hit each other! If you disagree with someone, you do not start to attack them, neither physically, nor magical. Do you understand?” she scolded.

The prince looked up at her with his brow wrinkled. 

“She said titles aren’t important. That it doesn’t matter if you are named a god or not. She was very mean,” he tried to defend himself. 

His mother sighed. 

“Titles aren’t everything. It always depends on the context, my dear. Sometimes, they are very important and sometimes they do not mean anything at all. Try to remember this, Loki. Now, do you have any idea where Iona went? She ran past me down the stairs, just after I heard a noise” Frigga asked.

Loki merely shook his head. He was so tired, he just wanted to sleep. 

 

As soon as Loki rested on top of his covers, his clothing dried by magic, Frigga joined Eir in the corridor. She bade the healer to her chambers, sitting down in her drawing room. The two women knew each other long enough for Eir to start speaking without further ado, about the secret only she and the royal couple knew.

“The prince was severely dehydrated. He is fine now, though he should drink several more glasses of water when he wakes. I am not sure what the girl has done to him, but it almost seemed to me that his body temperature had risen considerably for a very short amount of time. For Loki, with his… unique physique, it must have been extremely painful. Much more painful than it would have been for an Aesir. Then again, his shapeshifting abilities saved his life as he can heal so quickly,” Eir related. 

Seeing Frigga’s stunned expression, she continued.

“What I mean to say is that if Loki was a normal Frost Giant, and not also a shapeshifter, he would very likely have died today. An Aesir child would have felt pain but survived. A Frost Giant would not have had a chance,” the healer explained. 

Frigga remained silent for a while, signaling Eir with a gesture that she was to remain seated. 

“You will not talk to anyone of this, Eir. Please, understand that it is important that you keep quiet about this incident. I will talk to Iona myself and I will inform the Allfather,” the queen finally stated. 

Eir inclined her head. The healer left the Allmother to her thoughts. 

Frigga paced through her drawing room. She was certain that Iona would never have done whatever she had done had she known it would endanger Loki’s life. She was also convinced that Loki hadn’t told her everything _he_ had done to the girl. The queen knew her boy well enough for that. 

The Allmother shook her head. The incident had to be kept hushed up. Iona had difficulties with other children already and Frigga was well aware of some of the servants', as well as some of the nobles’ aversion to the girl. However, she had to have a stern talk with her for injuring Loki. 

The queen asked one of the guards to find Heimdall in bring him to her. Then, she joined her sleeping boy in his chamber, humming a soothing tune while softly stroking his head.

 

Iona was perched on top of Asgard’s palace, hunched over and crying violently. Loki’s feral scream haunted her as much as the feeling of his hands around her neck. The feeling of not being able to breath, of being helpless and scared. It had been so frightening that she had simply acted on impulse, using her magic to get his hands off her. She knew she shouldn’t have done it, shouldn’t have attacked Loki, her friend, the prince. As far as she was aware, attacking a prince of the nine realms was punishable by death. 

The girl sat down in the middle of the platform, hugging her knees to her chest. Her heart was beating violently. Tears and snot were streaming down her face, but she couldn’t care less for her appearance. It had just been a stupid argument, nothing more. They had provoked each other; she couldn’t even remember who had started it. 

When she’d ran from his chamber, his scream echoing in her ears, she’d stumbled to a balcony in panic, gulping for air. She’d made a wobbly ascent to the top of the palace and now, she was curled up there as a small ball of misery. In her desperate fear of what was to happen, combined with the scare Loki’s actions as well as her own had caused, she came up with worse and worse scenarios of what would happen to her. 

She’d be thrown into the dungeons, left to rot between the most dangerous vermin of Asgard and the other realms. She would be brought to court and sentenced to death for attacking a prince. Her thoughts were spiraling to darker and darker places. She could almost hear Loki mocking her. 

_“At least, you’re going to see Hel now, just as you wished!”_

Iona began to shiver. She was so scared. Would she, maybe, be able to run? Leave Asgard behind and hide? But where? Heimdall would find her, it was pointless. 

_“The Queen is looking for you,”_ Heimdall’s voice echoed in her head. 

Iona couldn’t suppress a mighty sob at that. Of course, she was. She’d have her shackled and led away. When she didn’t answer, Heimdall’s voice continued.

 _“She wants to talk to you, Iona. You should go to her,”_ the watcher went on. 

It took him a long time to convince the girl to leave her sanctuary on top of the realm. Heimdall had to calm her down, reassure her that she would neither be put on trial, nor be sent to the dungeons as soon as she set foot in the palace again. 

When Iona finally landed on the queen’s private balcony, the sun was already setting over Asgard. She suffered from a throbbing headache caused by so much crying and the lines of her tears on her face as well as the stains of snot on her sleeves were very visible to the observant queen who was waiting for her.

They had a very long talk. Iona got to tell her side of the story, which made Frigga click her tongue and shake her head in disapproval. The girl then started to cry again, begging the Allmother not to send her to the dungeons. This was a train of thought that took Frigga a while to understand. She had to suppress a smile when she finally grasped what Iona meant. The queen assured her that she wouldn’t be imprisoned but would have to apologize. Further, the Allmother explained many different things about the dangers of magic. How it could hurt people. How one must only use it if one was certain about the outcome. How Iona would receive training in defensive magic. At this, the girl finally stopped sniveling but listened with interest. 

Later, Iona had to wait in the queen’s drawing room. Frigga had left shortly, but then returned with Loki at her side. He looked even paler than usual and made an angry face as soon as he spotted Iona. She wrinkled her forehead. Minutes later, they had both apologized to each other, though rather unwillingly. When the door opened and Odin emerged, giving them a good dressing down, both children were exhausted and not even listening properly anymore. 

 

It took them several long, seemingly endless months to come to terms with each other again. Iona had been punished for attacking Loki by having her magic taken from her for a month, though that turned out to be more difficult than expected. Iona wasn't able to cast illusions or transfigure things. However, her elementar magic stayed with her, no matter how much the Allfather tried to take it away. In the end, she was forbidden to use any magic she still could do for the time being. She agreed, but secretly found it hilarious that some of her powers were beyond the Allfather's reach. She also had to help Eir with her potions and herbs. It was a work the girl found terribly boring in the beginning, but then started to like it a lot. 

Iona didn’t know what Loki’s punishment for choking her had been, she only knew he had been punished as well. She’d likely been extremely jealous if she’d known that Odin had taken him on a trip to Midgard after learning about his son’s qualms about the realm. The Allfather tried to show his son how important Aesir protection was for the poor, underdeveloped people of Midgard. His success was dubious, though, as Loki decided that humans were – in fact – just as pathetic as he had expected. 

Four months and a week after their violent fight, Iona made Loki laugh for the first time since their argument. It was during a magic lesson with the Allmother and Frigga may or may not have mixed a calming herb with the children’s tea. Anyhow, that afternoon, the two of them were finally playing with each other again, just like they used to before the incident.


	8. Magic and Vanir Treats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iona reflects on her abilities.
> 
> Loki goes on a journey without his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again! One of the last childhood chapters, in which we learn more about Iona and her abilities, as well as about everyday life for the children at the palace.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Thank you @we_dreamerz for beta work and very helpful input!!

Over the next few years, Iona's ability to control the elements became better and better. Her natural affinity to fire enabled her to learn things average magicians could never master. Earth was a joke for her, she mastered it en passant and did not particularly care for it. However, she was fascinated with water and air.

"Water is really interesting! You have the different states of aggregation to consider! There is water, naturally, the liquid form one thinks of when hearing the word. But then there is ice, the solid-state people tend to remember as an afterthought. Sure, you can let it rain or conjure waves or flashfloods, but with ice, there are so many more possibilities! Just think about it, who needs earth when you can use ice? For battle, it’s perfect! You can summon icicles and use them as weapons. No need for daggers! You can get the ground slippery and make your enemy slip and fall. You can produce an icy rain with needle sharp edges. And of course, there is steam, which everybody forgets. You can make the steam very hot so people get burned and hurt them so they can’t hurt you or you can have the steam envelop someone and then turn it to ice, so they are trapped. And there are so many more possibilities! Of course, you get the best results when you combine water and air. A cold wind with lots of icicles can be very frightening, as well as a tornado with lots of water in it. Furthermore, air as an element is highly underappreciated. You can use it for so many things, transportation, padding, invisibly barrier. And you can combine it with all the other elements to get something special. ... Loki? You're not listening, are you?" 

Loki had gone back to reading his book a while ago, ignoring Iona’s prattling. 

"Excuse me? Uhm... no, I think I got distracted...", the prince admitted.

The two children were lying on the prince’s bed, Loki on his stomach with his nose in a big tome, Iona next to him on her back, gesturing vividly with her hands while droning on about her favorite elements and how to use them.

"What are you reading?" she asked, curios what could possibly be more interesting than her observations.

"A book about the great war against the frost giants. It is quite interesting. We have to be very grateful to my father for defeating them!" 

Iona was deep in thought. 

"So.... Frost Giants. FROST giants...", she mumbled. 

Loki looked at her, questioningly. 

"Yeees. That's what they are called..." he mocked her.

Iona did not pay attention. She was mulling over an idea that had just struck her. It was all so simple. If it worked, she would be able to protect Asgard, maybe all by herself. At least from Frost Giants.

"Do you think they are called Frost Giants because they consist of ice or some elemental component or because they live in a world full of ice?" she asked thoughtfully. 

"Uhm... I think they are made of ice somehow, but I am not sure. I mean, there are Fire Giants as well… Why do you ask?" the Prince asked carefully. 

He knew about Iona’s morbid fascination with all places dark and dreadful as well as their inhabitants. He himself didn’t want to think too much about those creatures lurking in the shadows of other realms, something he would never admit to her, obviously. 

“Just… an idea. A thought. I have to… try some things,” Iona explained cryptically, a faraway look in her eyes.

Loki looked at his friend questioningly, but she didn’t even register his gaze. Just as he was about to go back to reading his book, she looked at him.

She rolled over onto her stomach, half turning towards Loki.

“What is it with that artifact in the vaults underneath the palace?” Iona asked.

“The Casket of Ancient Winters? Father showed it to Thor and me. It’s one of Jotunheim’s relics. I’m not sure what it does, though. Father said it can only be used to its full extend by someone with royal blood from Jotunheim’s royal family,” Loki explained thoughtfully. 

“And haven’t we conquered Jotunheim already? I thought we have a kind of truce with them because we took their power or something. Could that be the Casket?” Iona asked, suddenly intrigued by Asgard’s political issues with the icy realm.

Loki shrugged, staring in front of him in thought.

“It could very well be the Casket. There were some weird things down there in the vault, I must ask Father to take me back some time. Maybe you could come too,” Loki mused.

“I would like to see it. As well as the other things there. Aren’t you curious what they can do?” she asked, her eyes big and round. 

“Of course, I am. I think we’ll learn about them eventually. I mean Thor and I have to know what it is we’ve got stowed away down there. We’re princes. Those things are important, in a political context,” Loki explained, proud to be using such fancy words, though what he had learned about politics so far had been rather boring and he wasn’t _quite_ sure if what he’d just said made any sense. 

Iona merely gave an approving grunt. She rolled over on her back again, her hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling, though her eyes betrayed her. She wasn’t seeing the ceiling of the room but picturing something only her mind could see. 

Loki didn’t know what to make of his friend’s strange behavior. Something told him she wouldn’t tell him anything, even if he asked. When she just continued to stare into nothingness, the prince shrugged and returned his attention to his book again. 

 

Iona’s thoughts were far away indeed. She was putting together bits and pieces of memories, actions she was not proud off. However, now everything seemed so simple she almost laughed. 

The incident of the fight with Loki, the moment she had used her magic to hurt him came back to her. However, she tried to structure her thought process. She had to think this though properly. So, she started in the beginning. 

Iona had tried to control a life form with her magic before. When she was little, just a few months before she had been brought to the palace, she had tried something. The girl had always suspected the two events to be somehow connected, though only now, she realized that one had caused the other. 

She had heard that most life forms of Asgard and most other realms known to them consisted mainly of water. In their bodies, the blood and everything, there was just a lot of water there. Naturally, being the bright girl she was, she had concluded that meant she could make them do things. She had played around with dead fish, back at her old home at the lake, hidden away at a secluded place either near the shore or in her room at their house. The fresher the fish, the easier it was. She could make them swim around, make it look like they were still alive. She also made some of the fishes explode when she tried to use the air in them to move them, so that wasn’t such a good idea. As she had been forbidden to use fire after she once accidentally set her bedding on fire, she hadn’t tried that element on them, though she would have to try if she could grill a fish or meat with her powers. How useful that would be!

She knew it was easy to make things move with wind, or with some magical knowledge one had, this telekinesis thing, but those powers came from the outside. She, however, did it just by using the water _inside_ of them. Then, one day, she watched the neighbor kill a chicken and she managed to make it walk around their yard for a while, while the blood was still fresh and flowing inside of it. Right after it was killed.

 

Unbeknownst to her, a broad grin spread on her face, a grin Loki saw from the corner of his eye. It made him wonder what in the name of the Norns was going on in her mind, but the grin soon faded, and he sighed, returning to his book again. He would ask her later, when he was done with this thrilling book.

 

Iona remembered the neighbor’s daughters; those stupid girls who always taunted her. She had made the headless chicken run after them. It had been hilarious; she could still hear their horrified screams.

But a bit after that, she did something that had haunted her ever since. 

Another neighbor had chickens as well. Iona climbed a tree and hid between the leaves, watching the animals walk around the yard. She’d concentrated on one of them and tried to make it move. Not through some exterior force like with wind or subtly tilting the earth but using the blood running in its veins. Instead, she’d accidentally killed the poor creature. 

It fought her, struggled against her hold on the water in its body. When she had panicked and let it go, it just fell over dead. It didn’t work that way, blood. The body. Everyone was so angry with her, because of course they found out that it was her. 

But she hadn’t meant to kill it. She had _never_ meant to kill it.

The feeling of its struggling had been so full of fear and terror that Iona threw up. It had felt wrong, awfully _wrong_ and she had decided then and there she would never use her powers like that again.

A short time later, she had been brought to the palace. It was one of those revelations of certain circumstances one had that should have been completely clear before, as they were too obvious to be overlooked. Nevertheless, Iona only then made the connection. Because of the chicken-incident, she had been sent to the palace. To learn. To train. And to control. 

And now she remembered what she had done to Loki. She knew she had heated him up internally. Just for a very, very short moment. Enough to make him let go of her. Enough to hurt him. He had survived it, though he had suffered, much more than she had anticipated. Much more than she had wanted him to. 

What was important was this: she could stop an attacker with her magic. She could use it to defend herself, as well as knock someone out. Of course, she would be able to attack with her powers as well, to kill, even, but the thought brought the struggling chicken back to her mind and she felt nauseous at once. No, she didn’t want to use her powers offensively, but for protection. 

And if Frost Giants, the creatures Loki feared so much, were made of some form of water – and Fire Giants of some kind of fire – then she would surely be able to keep them from harming anyone. Which meant she wouldn’t have to be afraid of them - they posed no threat. 

Slowly, Iona began to understand that with her powers, there was nobody she had to fear. In the worst case, she would always be able to defend herself. But she had to learn just how much force she needed, how much magic she would have to use. 

And she’d definitely have to learn more about Frost and Fire Giants, just to be sure.

 

Feeling like she was breaking through the surface of a body of water, Iona focused back on the present. She was still in Loki’s room, lying on her back on his bed. The boy was next to her, now lying on his side, one hand supporting the weight of his head as he was just about to read the last page of his book.

Iona waited for him to finish it. When he did, he stared at the page for another moment, then rolled to his back with a sigh.

“Loki! Loki, look!” Iona whispered. 

He turned towards her voice, the towards the spot she pointed to. He gasped. There, on the floor of his bedroom stood a tiny army of miniature Frost Giants. They looked just like in the pictures of his book, all blue with strange lines all over their body. Their eyes were blazing red. Opposite them, a small army of Fire Giants appeared, their limbs flickering in and out of existence, their eyes as black as coals. 

Loki moved towards the edge of his bed, lying on his stomach next to Iona in the same position. She grinned and with a subtle sweep of her arm, the tiny giants ran towards each other, charging into battle. 

It was a short fight that ended in Loki’s bedroom looking like a steam bath. When the first fight was over, both armies destroyed and dissolved into vapor, Loki turned to his friend, beaming.

“Again!” he said breathlessly. 

And Iona complied. 

Despite the scolding the two of them received later, when they were discovered dripping wet and in fits of hysterical giggling, the room looking like a flashflood had plagued it, having tiny elemental creatures fight each other became one of their favorite new past time. When Thor heard about it, he insisted that Iona show him and from then on, the three children spent lots of wonderful afternoons playing rulers of the giants. Iona came up with strange clay creatures as well and they often staged fights on one of the balconies or in one of the gardens as they had been banned to outside with this particular game. 

 

Thor, Loki and Iona were always up to something. Though Thor wasn’t taught magic, they had lessons in history and geography of all the realms, biology of the various creatures residing in them, astronomy, various language classes (which Loki thought pointless since he could make everyone understand him by simply using Allspeak), basics in healing as well as arts, which included drawing, music, theatre, literature and dance. Some of the lessons all three of them had together, some only Loki and Iona because Thor was older and had already covered the subject earlier. They all had their favorite subjects – and those they simply couldn’t care less for. 

Iona wasn’t particularly fond of astronomy and music, not being patient enough to learn how to play instruments and singing off-key on purpose to make the boys cry with laughter and their poor teacher wring his hands in frustration. She hated drawing with all her heart because she just couldn’t get things to look right and again, lacked patience to practice. This didn’t mean she had no admiration for drawings and paintings, she just could not create them herself. She loved literature and history of all the realms, the latter a subject both the boys were not too keen on. Some of the creatures she learned about in biology fascinated her, for some she had absolutely no interest. She was very good in healing. She’d been made to help Eir with potions and herbs and had taken a liking to it, often watching the head healer brew a potion or accompanying her to the herb gardens, all the while bombarding her with questions and listening intently to her answers.

As outstanding as Loki was in his magical studies, he could not be bothered when things did not interest him. History and geography were alright, an opinion Thor shared, but biology was boring, and he outright boycotted his language classes, constantly starting arguments about the pointlessness of the subject when he could use Allspeak. However, he was well versed in all the different forms of the arts. His drawings were always incredibly detailed, and Iona suspected him somehow manipulating them with magic, though she had no idea how; because, otherwise she would have done the same. He would sometimes during language classes boycott the lessons, take up a feather and draw Iona or their teacher and the results were always stunning. It was similar with music. He would master instruments in record time and had a nice singing voice. Theatre and literature were the only artistic subjects Iona enjoyed and Loki could discuss them for hours with Iona, who was more than willing to go deeper into those matters, coming up with theories and new ideas. In dancing, he excelled as well. He had a graceful way of moving which Thor lacked. Iona was good at it as well, though not into it as much as Loki.

Contrary to Loki, Thor was very much into languages. He couldn’t be bothered with any of the arts except for music, where he showed a certain talent for wind instruments, a fact Loki commented with “that’s because he is so full of air,” which earned him a broken nose and a day with the healers, as well as a fit of giggles from Iona, who punished Thor for hitting his brother in her own way. A gust of wind would run ahead of Thor for a while, making sneaking anywhere impossible and annoying him so much that he threatened to break Iona’s nose as well. She wasn’t impressed by his threat, but his mother was, who happened to hear all of it. Thor was punished, Iona was scolded, and she taunted him with a broad grin and sticking out her tongue at him.

All three of them were doing physical exercises as well, riding, archery (Iona always won because she would manipulate the wind, which would get her a scolding that she always ignored) and some agility training. 

The best time of the day was unarguably their spare time. The three of them would play in the gardens or the palace. Loki would often play tricks on the two others, though more often the three of them played tricks on unsuspecting servants or guards. Hide and seek was out of the question because Loki always cheated and turned himself into some small animal to escape discovery. Loki and Iona would often enchant inanimate objects and let them act out scenes from their books or their lessons – or everyday palace life. This was a game they could play from breakfast to dinner, amusing Thor as well who often gave instructions and contributed hilarious ideas. They also enjoyed taking their ponies for a ride, often racing them or jumping. 

 

Their everyday life was interrupted when Odin announced that he would go on a brief, three-week state visit to Vanaheim – and take the princes with him. Thor and Loki were excited – understandably – but Iona wasn’t. After all, she’d always wanted to see other realms and strange places, and now her two friends would be going, and she had to stay behind. Both princes begged the king to let Iona come too – to no avail. 

The evening before their departure, Iona lay in bed, crying. She knew she was behaving like a child, but she just couldn’t help it. The past few weeks had been weird since the announcement of the journey. She had tried to be happy for her friends, but she just couldn’t shake off her own annoyance and jealousy. 

She wanted to go so badly, but she wasn’t allowed. The two princes had even tried to sneak her into their travel bags, the big ones that were tall enough to hold all the royal clothing and robes, so spacious that she could lie down inside. Unfortunately, she had been spotted, pulled out of the trunk, reprimanded and brought back to her chamber where she had to stay for the rest of the day. It was all so unfair.

She was crying so hard she didn’t hear her door open and close softly. 

“Iona?” a hushed voice asked.

Startled, she sat up, hastily wiping at her face.

“Loki?” she asked back. 

The dark-haired prince stood near the foot of her bed, hesitating.

“Are you crying?” he asked, brows creased.

“No,” she lied, though it was obvious she had been crying badly.

“I… I wanted to say goodbye. We will leave very early tomorrow and you will still be sleeping. And we couldn’t talk properly earlier today…” he drifted off, remembering how embarrassed Iona had been when the Einherjar pulled her out of the trunk. She’d managed to scratch the cheek of one of them. Loki didn’t know why, but it had impressed him a lot.

Iona sniffed.

“Well… goodbye then,” Iona said, not knowing what to make of his visit. Did he want to taunt her for not being able to go? 

“I’m sorry you can’t come with us. Father said something about attending court and being introduced as the princes. Lots of politics and such. Maybe it’s going to be rather boring. But I promise I will tell you everything once we are back. Alright?” Loki suddenly said, speaking so fast that the words almost became a single, incredibly long one. 

Iona stared at him, feeling bad for suspecting the worst in her friend. She nodded.

“Alright,” she answered quietly. 

Loki nodded again, then climbed onto her bed and hugged her. She hugged him back.

“I have to go now. I will miss you, maybe father will allow me send a message via one of the ravens,” the prince said. 

Iona smiled.

“That would be nice,” she answered. 

Loki let go of her, grinned lopsidedly, jumped from her bed with a giggle and then moved towards the door. With his hand already on the doorknob, he turned around and waved at her again. Then, he left her room as quickly and quiet as he had entered it.

 

They hadn’t seen each other for 3 weeks, which seemed endless to all three of them. Iona had spent a lot of her time with Eir or “her” horse Alsvin that she was finally allowed to ride. She had also bombarded Heimdall with endless questions about Vanaheim and what the princes were doing. She didn’t get a raven and suspected that Odin hadn’t leant one to Loki, something she found rather appalling.

Upon the boys’ return, they’d spent the afternoon in the palace gardens, the princes telling fantastic tales about the Vanir and their court and a land full of strange creatures and - interestingly enough, for Iona - more elemental magic than Asgard. Of course, she knew about her Vanir grandmother and she’d read up on anything she could get her hands on about the place. In theory, she even knew how to cook a true Vanir meal, though in practice she knew her talent in that area was limited.

Thor soon got bored with Loki’s detailed descriptions of what they had seen and went away in search for someone else to play with. As soon as he had left the garden, Loki looked around to make sure they were alone.

“Finally! I thought he would never leave!” he said with a dramatic sigh.

“Why, what is it?” Iona asked curiously.

From a pocket within his vest, Loki pulled something wrapped in cloth. With a grin, he unwrapped it. A slightly crumpled slice of what looked like bread appeared. Iona raised an eyebrow.

“Pray tell, what is this?” she asked skeptically.

“This, dear Iona, is the best desert I’ve ever tasted. It’s straight from the Vanir court and you have to try it,” he said triumphantly. 

Iona was impressed. Not only was it strictly forbidden to smuggle food from one realm to another, but also the fact that Loki had taken the risk to be caught and punished just so she could have a bit of a Vanir dessert was more than a nice gesture. Though the delicacy didn’t look like much.

She broke off a small piece and tried it. Her eyes went wide. This was the sweetest, richest thing she had ever tasted! It was a bit like honey, though not sticky at all and it dissolved on her tongue to leave traces of the taste everywhere in her mouth and throat. A warm, giddy feeling spread through her. 

“It’s delicious! And you brought this for me?” she asked incredulously.

Loki shuffled around a bit, clearly pleased by the effect the delicacy had on her, but also a bit embarrassed. 

“Actually, I was hoping you’d like to… you know. Share,” he mumbled sheepishly. 

Iona grinned, broke the bread-dessert-thing into two pieces of roughly the same size, took one of them and left the other one in Loki’s hand. He looked up at her, almost surprised but when she nodded, he took his own piece and they both enjoyed their forbidden treat. 

Later the celebrated their safe return with a feast. After Odin’s speech was over, Thor and Loki left the royal table to join their friends. Iona was happy when Sif, the daughter of the head armorer who had become friends with Thor lately, gave her attention to the older prince. She somehow liked the fierce warrior girl, sure, but except for a very stubborn disposition, the girls didn’t have much in common.

Loki shot his brother’s new friend a skeptical glance. 

“Did you play much with her while we were gone?” he asked Iona.

Iona followed his gaze and shook her head.

“No. I don’t think she likes me much. I was with Eir, making potions and learning a lot about herbs. And Alsvin. I wish I could have her as my own horse. She’s fast and really good at jumping. I didn’t play much with anyone,” she answered with a shrug.

Loki merely nodded. He would never admit it, but he had feared that Iona would make a new friend while he was gone and forget all about him in just three weeks. Iona pulled him from his thoughts.

“Do you think there will be leftovers from the desserts later? We could sneak to the kitchens tonight,” she suggested, and Loki agreed enthusiastically, a broad grin on his face. 

It was good to be back.


	9. Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Puberty hits some of our favorite Asgardians. It's not an easy time for anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here wo go again! Writing kids came relatively easy to me, writing teenagers... not so much. Thouh you could say they are so unpredictable that it could be rather easy. Nope. 
> 
> Anyways. A new chapter! Hope you guys enjoy it! As always, comments are very welcome! Thank you guys for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> Many thanks for beta-work @we_dreamerz!!!

Slowly, very, very slowly, things started to change. 

The first, most profound change was Thor starting weapons practice. The blonde prince had become a bit chubby lately, a fact that caused some mean snickering behind his back as well as endless teasing from Iona and Loki who were the only ones unafraid enough to say things like that to his face. In response, both of them often ended up at the healers, as Thor didn’t know what else to do other than react physically by punching them. 

To keep the two bold younger children safe, as well as to give Thor an outlet for his ever-growing energy and strength, not to mention evolve his wobbly bits into something sturdier, the Allfather decided that it was time Thor started to train with a carefully chosen instructor. Of course, Loki and Iona tried to sneak onto the training grounds to watch. And of course, they were spotted, stopped, reprimanded and sent back – which didn’t keep them from trying again until they succeeded, got bored quickly and retreated of their own volition. 

They wouldn’t have needed to bother watching because afterwards, Thor, red-faced, exhausted and _happy_ , joined them and told them about his training in detail. So much detail that Loki and Iona were so bored that they started to practice illusions behind the unsuspecting blonde prince’s back. When Loki conjured an illusion that gave the older prince donkey ears and Iona dissolved in a fit of giggles, Thor - furious and disappointed - got up and stormed away, but only after kicking his brother in the ribs. Loki had tears in his eyes, both from laughing and from pain and Iona shot a small fireball after her enraged friend. She missed, of course, but only because that was on purpose. 

They didn’t see much of Thor during the following days. They soon found out that the reason behind Thor’s absence was called Sif, who was much more interested in Thor’s practice and training than Loki and Iona combined. She even joined him in fighting class, something that caused quite a stir among the gossiping noblesse of Asgard. Not because she was a girl, as the Valkyries had all been female and renowned elite shieldmaidens. No, they wouldn’t shut up about her because she wasn’t nobility, not even close.

Sif was the head armorer’s daughter, a bit younger than Thor but older than Loki and Iona. She had grown up amidst all sorts of sharp, pointy and deadly blades, edges and tips and had even trained combat already in secrecy. She shared Thor’s enthusiasm for all things concerning weapons, fights, training, war and the likes. 

Iona had tried to befriend her; she had _really_ tried. But the other girl was aloof towards her and they had nothing to talk about. Loki didn’t like her because she stole his brother from him.

It wasn’t long before both younger children missed the blond prince, but neither would ever say so to anyone, not even each other. Loki had a long, reassuring talk with his mother one evening, when he confessed his feelings of being abandoned to the queen. She had gone into a lengthy explanation on the topic of Thor always being Loki’s brother, no matter what happened. She’d explained that Thor and Loki had different interests but would still be family after all. The talk reassured the dark-haired prince, though it didn’t entirely calm his fears.

Iona became wary for a while, expecting Loki to finally abandon her too so that she would be all alone. That didn’t happen. On the contrary, they became almost inseparable, often going so far as to tiptoe to each other’s room at night and fall asleep there after hours of talking, giggling, scheming, unsupervised use of magic, and general mischief.

They were only separable on two occasions. One was their specialized magical training, which consisted of elemental magic for Iona and of shapeshifting and all kinds of illusion magic for Loki. Iona was able to conjure illusions, but Loki’s were much better, and he was much more proficient in this art. 

The other time Loki and Iona would spend apart was when Iona was working with Eir. She enjoyed the time with the head healer immensely, often bombarding her with questions. The girl was a fast learner and had a certain talent with potions and healing magic. Iona was fascinated by the different effects of teas, potions and balms, the rare ingredients only the best equipped healers in the nine realms had at hand and the wonders the soul forge could do. 

The girl kept experimenting and soon found out she’d never have to freeze or sweat due to heat again. She was from now on surrounded by a tiny layer of air that she managed to heat up to the exact temperature she felt comfortable with, an ability that had taken her a while to master and caused burns and frostbite in the process.

She enjoyed freaking out other children by playing in the snow in winter while wearing a summer dress of going outside in the middle of summer wearing fur. However, she only did it as a joke and usually wore clothes more fitting to the general season.

Years passed like this. Thor became better and better in his training and he was often praised by the Allfather for his abilities. Loki was jealous. He never got any praise from his father. He hadn’t started fighting training yet, but Odin didn’t bother to look at his magical abilities at all. 

Iona hit a growth spurt. She became tall and lanky compared to Thor who was still fighting his baby fat. He had started to develop muscles, though, and was slowly becoming more trained than wobbly. Loki was small and thin. Iona was soon a head taller than both boys, a fact she found highly amusing. 

However, other things changed as well. Iona realized that whenever she was sweating – which seemed to happen more often now -, she smelled really bad. Plus, her body had changed. Her chest wasn’t flat anymore and her hips were broader than before. In theory, she knew she was slowly transitioning from a child into a woman, she just hadn’t really expected it to happen so soon. It was at a normal age; she just did not feel like a grown up. She had become very self-conscious and tried to hide her changing form as best as she could. Her tunics were wider and longer nowadays. She’d learned about the changes in her lessons, she just wasn’t ready to face them herself. She felt like a stranger in her own body.

Iona wanted to ignore everything going on with her body, but Eir would of course address it.

“You do know that it is perfectly normal, Iona? What is happening to you?” Eir asked her one afternoon when Iona was helping her with a potion. 

She almost dropped the ladle she was holding. For some reason, the whole topic felt incredibly embarrassing to her and she didn’t want to discuss it. At all. She knew she was red in the face when she answered.

“Yes, I know. Do we have to talk about it?” she asked, more annoyed than she’d thought.

She felt Eir’s gaze on her and somehow that made her furious.

“Look, if you want to say anything, then say it! By the Norns!” she grumbled angrily.

Eir only shook her head and said nothing.

A few weeks later, Iona was again helping the healer by laying out herbs to dry when the cramps began. She’d had been feeling weird all day, but now her stomach ached, and she felt dizzy. 

“Iona? Are you alright?” Eir asked, always perceptive, always caring.

Iona sat down, slowly shaking her head. She had an uncomfortable feeling between her legs, something was wet. But she hadn’t wet herself, had she? She’d know if she had done _that_ , wouldn’t she? Then, another possibility struck her, and she groaned in annoyance.

“My stomach hurts,” Iona mumbled, not wanting to say what she really thought it was. 

Eir watched her closely, nodded.

“You are flowering, aren’t you? For the first time, I take it?” the head healer asked softly. 

Again, Iona felt extremely embarrassed. She knew she was blushing when she nodded.

“I think so. But… I’m too young! Aren’t I?” she asked, somehow hoping it was something else.

Eir sighed and dropped to her knees in front of Iona, taking her hands in her own.

“No, Iona, you are not too young. It is perfectly normal, though I know it is upsetting. All the changes you are going through are not easy and they are likely a bit frightening to you. It is all right. And I promise you, it will get better, easier,” Eir said, squeezing the girl’s hands reassuringly. 

Iona merely nodded again. She didn’t want to talk about it, though she felt like she had a thousand questions she was too shy to ask. She wanted to crawl into a hole and not come out until this nuisance was over. 

Eir helped her out with a potion against the cramps and a special cloth for her underwear that would soak up the blood. It was drenched in a special brew to absorb the smell as well. Iona had helped make the brew only a few weeks ago, a fact that made her wonder if the head healer had somehow known what was coming.

When the flustered girl left her an hour later, Eir sighed. A lot of change was coming for the palace. Iona wasn’t the only one growing older. Since a few weeks, prince Thor’s bedsheets had to be renewed daily because he would stain them in his dreams. Eir had had a talk with him too, the poor boy had been incredibly embarrassed, much more so than Iona. It was only Prince Loki who showed no signs of coming to that strange, difficult stage everyone had to go through. Yet. 

 

One morning a few months later, Thor appeared at the royal family breakfast table, opened his mouth to ask for a plate full of bacon only to croak like a hoarse crow. Loki spit his mouth full of warm tea all over the table, some of it even coming out of his nostrils. Thor’s eyes were wide in shock, mouth still open but silent. Odin was reprimanding Loki who had drenched the Allfather’s plate in tea and spit. The younger prince was close to dying of laughter, tears running down his cheeks, gasping for air in between fits of laughter. Frigga sighed. A maid hastily began wiping up what was left of Loki’s tea and Thor got up in a hurry and ran from the room.

The Allmother followed her older son, leaving behind an angry Odin with a still giggling Loki. She’d known the day was coming, still it had been a bit of a shock to everyone. 

Thor’s crackling voice was an endless source of amusement for Loki and Iona. At least in the beginning. Both were teasing him, though Iona lost interest after a while, while Loki didn’t seem able to stop joking about his brother’s unruly voice. Thor reacted with angry fits of yelling, banging doors and storming off towards the training grounds where he would exhaust himself. 

 

Iona experienced another flowering almost exactly a year after her first. Eir congratulated her as the Soul Forge showed that Iona was in good health and would grow to be an exceedingly fertile woman, a fact that the girl neither wanted to hear nor to think about. Eir tried to explain to her that high fertility was not very common on Asgard, that she was blessed by the Norns and that her flowerings would likely occur every six months, which was better than a textbook-cycle of once per year. 

However, the girl was enraged, disgusted and embarrassed. She had cramps, felt miserable, sick and weak, at the same time furious and sad and she was supposed to thank the Norns for it?! She didn’t want to think about becoming and being a grown woman and she was definitely not ready to accept the fact that she would be able to have many children as something good. Hel, she didn’t even know if she ever wanted any. She’d rather go on adventures and see all the realms and the worlds beyond. She said as much to Eir, who listened, nodded, smiled and seemed not to understand in the least. 

Something else that bothered her greatly were the numerous spots that had appeared on her face. Eir had given her a balm – that Iona herself had prepared; seriously, the goddess sometimes freaked her out with her sense of foreboding – but even that didn’t help her entirely and Iona had started to “paint her face” as she herself called it, desperately trying to hide her problematic skin.

One day a few months later, while Loki had his private lessons with Frigga, Iona strolled down the Bifrost again. She’d recently taken to visiting Heimdall more often, feeling a strange longing to be away from Asgard from time to time. The girl had become a bit pensive of late, often staring into the distance for hours. She was convinced the feeling had something to do with her general discontentment and the feeling of not being at home in her own body. 

As always, the Watcher was very nice to her and answered her numerous questions. This time, the girl insisted on any detail he could provide about Niflheim and especially Hel, her morbid fascination with the place palpable. 

As there were secrets concerning Hel that Heimdall could not relate to her, he tried to turn the conversation around.

“Why is it that you are so intent on finding out about Niflheim, girl?” he asked not unkindly.

Iona, who sat cross-legged on a floating rock she had conjured, took a moment to answer.

“Because… because I doubt I will ever see it myself. I mean, Niflheim is not a place you would consider visiting. And it would be difficult to get there and even more difficult to leave again. The realm of the dead. It’s the least likely realm for a visit, though others are difficult to access as well. Jotunheim and Muspelheim, for instance. They are dangerous, even when you take their inhabitants aside and only look at the realms themselves. Muspelheim is far too hot and dry for the average Aesir to survive long. Jotunheim is the complete opposite, too cold by far, though cold can be fought with layers and layers of furs. But still, it would be possible to go there and get a glimpse of those realms. Niflheim, however, is as far as I know inaccessible. And that is why I want to know what it’s like,” she tried to explain.

Heimdall gave her a long look, one of those that made her think he could look directly into her soul and know all her secrets. Few would not break eye contact, but Iona was a very stubborn creature and held his gaze. She didn’t know how much her ability to not look away equally impressed and worried him. 

“It is forbidden to set foot onto Jotunheim soil for any Aesir. The peace with the realm is fragile, an unbidden journey there would endanger both realms, likely triggering another war,” the Watcher said slowly, still looking at her intensely.

Iona nodded, not taking her eyes of him. She knew that he was aware of her fascination with those two dangerous realms – and of her determination to visit both at some point. There was no point in denying it.

“Muspelheim is off limits for Aesir, elves, Vanir and anyone with enough sense to avoid it. Nobody and nothing would be able to protect the unfortunate soul who decided to travel there. Fire Giants are fierce creatures, but even they are wary of some of the wild creatures residing in their realm. It would be a most foolish and certainly suicidal endeavor to set foot on Muspelheim,” Heimdall continued, the warning in his voice as well as his words unmistakable. 

“I know all these things,” Iona answered, their eyes still locked.

She knew that Heimdall was aware of her ability to create an agreeable temperature around herself. He was very well aware that neither Jotunheim’s freezing winds, nor Muspelheim’s sweltering heat would affect her in the least, so he tried to deter her with other things. War and wild beasts. A small smile appeared on Iona’s face. She knew what she had to do. Heimdall had given her an answer to a question she hadn’t even asked.

She had to start fighting training. More defense techniques to conquer the beasts that would likely attack her once she set foot on Muspelheim. And she would have to train her stealth to be able to travel through Jotunheim undiscovered one day. The same would be useful for the desolate plains of Svartalfheim, a place neither of them had mentioned. Iona didn’t often ask about the ruined realm of the Dark Elves, but that didn’t mean she had no intention to see it with her own eyes. She would see them all, at some point. Of that she was certain. Iona could be impulsive, but she could also be very very patient. She knew it would likely be centuries before she got the chance to see any of those places. But she would. And she would be prepared.

She finally looked down, breaking their intense staring contest. 

“Well, if you mean to tell me I can’t go to either of those places, then you’ll have to tell me all about them!” she said a bit too cheerful, grinning smugly. 

Heimdall shot her another glance and sighed. 

“You mustn’t set your mind on things that cannot be, child,” he tried again, his voice as soft as it would get.

Unfortunately, his words had an adverse effect on her. Iona raised her head in defiance, narrowing her eyes.

“And who gets to say what can be and what cannot?” she asked more aggressively than she had planned.

Heimdall gave her another stern look that didn’t seem to impress her at all. Then, with a shake of his head, he finally started to answer her questions about Niflheim, careful not to reveal things that should better remain secret.

 

Iona started her own weapons training a week later of her own volition. Loki had been perplexed and Thor overjoyed to have her join in training. She soon realized she hated every minute of it, but that couldn’t be helped. It was a means to an end, so she gritted her teeth and got it over with. She often got into arguments with her instructor about her excessive use of magic, which was frowned upon by Aesir fighters. Iona argued that the dwarves used magic in battle all the time, as well as the elves. When the counterargument was that she was neither a dwarf not an elf but an Aesir and she should fight accordingly, she simply laughed and replied how idiotic it was not to use one’s abilities just because they were different from what was common.

In the end, she got another instructor after she agreed on only using her magic for defensive purposes. This kind of training was more up her alley and Iona began to enjoy it. Partly. 

She still hated all the sweat.


End file.
